They are the Hunters, We are the Foxes
by WildestDreams72394
Summary: Things didn't go according to plan. Three men at a table in the corner of the café pulled out wands and began throwing curses back at the four Death Eaters. Adela LeStrange wasn't entirely sure why she made the choice she did, but at the last second she changed her aim from at the auror to four feet to his left. She saw Moody forming the Stunning Spell. Everything went dark.
1. Chapter 1

A young witch lay crumpled, broken, in the center of a circle of masked witches and wizards. The Dark Lord sat in an elevated chair in the front of the room, watching his servants carry out his orders. The current newest purebloods to join his ranks stood in the middle of the circle with the beaten and broken woman, casting spell after spell at the mudblood witch, testing their skills with dark magic, the cement floor smeared with her blood.

The mudblood witch moaned, grabbing at the black robes of one of the Death Eaters in training, Adela LeStrange. The woman sobbed, pleading for her life. Adela kicked her away, laughing at her useless cries for help. "Don't touch me again, you Muggle filth, or I'll cut off your hands and let you slowly bleed to death," she said, a wicked smirk on her face.

The Dark Lord nodded approvingly. Adela hit the witch with another Cruciatus Curse, inciting jeers and laughter from the Death Eaters. The bleeding woman screamed and writhed in agony.

"Enough," the Dark Lord said softly. The room instantly stilled, silence filling the air. The woman on the floor whimpered. "I tire of this mudblood," he continued. "Who shall finish off this Muggle scum for me?"

Adela looked at the other two masked Death Eaters in training in the circle with her. One was a small, shaky boy, barely seventeen years old, who had very little ability with any of the Unforgiveable Curses. The other she easily recognized as her fiancé, just shy of seventeen, but able to circumvent the Trace due to a well-placed family connection within the Ministry of Magic.

She knew she should have allowed her fiancé to take care of killing the mudblood, but the blood lust in the room was so high, she couldn't stop herself. "Avada Kedavra," Adela cried. The witch went limp on the floor, her moans and crying finally ceasing.

She had done it. Adela had made her first kill.

"Well done, LeStrange, my pet," the Dark Lord hissed. "You and Black have more than earned your Dark Marks, and you both shall receive your rewards. One week from tomorrow, you shall be awarded your Dark Marks." Turning to the small, weak boy, the Dark Lord sneered. "With you, however, I am very disappointed. You show no great talent for magic whatsoever. If your blood were not pure, I would kill you this minute. But, seeing as pure blood is rare and too precious to be spilled if it can be avoided. Perhaps some time under the Imperius Curse would strengthen your skills. Dolohov, if you would take care of that immediately. Dismissed, all of you."

After Adela walked out the door of the abandoned mansion, her fiancé, Regulus Black, caught up with her. "You should have let me kill that mudblood filth. I hardly needed your help."

"I hardly thought your needed help, Regulus," Adela replied calmly. "Instinct took over. Perhaps if you didn't make me spend so much time learning to deal with such Muggle scum from your cousin, you wouldn't seem quite so weak to the Dark Lord right now."

Regulus grabbed Adela's arm in a vice-like grip, turning on the spot to disapparate. The two reappeared on the front steps of the ancient castle that was the LeStrange family home. He squeezed her arm hard as he said, "Try to remember that you are my fiancé. A year from now, this place won't be your home anymore. You won't be able to make me angry and run away and hide out here anymore; you'll have to actually face me when you piss me off. You will learn to show me the respect I deserve, one way or another."

Adela stared him down with a haughty glare. "Let go of me, Regulus."

He smirked. "Why, does it hurt?" He tightened his grip on her arm, causing bruises to well up on her skin. She tried to tug her arm from his hand, but that only caused her more pain. Regulus chuckled softly. "Get used to it, because if you don't start showing me more deference in front of the Dark Lord and our fellow Death Eaters, I promise you, you will feel far worse pain than this." Adela nodded quickly. Regulus released her arm and disapparated into the night.

* * *

Screams floated through the air. Men, women, and children's screams coming from all directions echoed through the seemingly empty cement room surrounding Adela. She spun around frantically, looking for the source of all the noise, nervous and shaking.

Suddenly, she felt something wet covering her feet. Adela looked down and screamed at what she saw. She was standing ankle deep in an ever-growing pool of blood that seemed to come from nowhere. She backed up quickly, trying to escape from the eerily warm liquid.

Looking back up, Adela found that she was no longer alone. Across the room from her was none other than the mudblood woman she had killed a couple hours earlier. She shook her head and closed her eyes, willing the witch to disappear. "No, no. It's not possible," she muttered.

The mudblood took slow steps toward her. "You did this." The witch spit the words at Adela.

Adela back away, stopping when her back hit the cement wall. "No, this isn't real. This can't be real. I killed you, you dirty Muggle," she cried.

The screaming around her grew even louder. The witch yelled at Adela, "My blood runs red, just like yours, you foolish little girl." She waved her wand at Adela. Adela screamed in pain as the skin on her chest and shoulders was lacerated by the wand. She fell to her knees, the blood now pouring from her wounds mixing with the Muggle blood pooled on the floor. The witch continued, "You bleed, just like me, just like the Muggles you and your friends brutally torture and murder. You feel pain, just like us muggle-borns."

Something unseen sliced open Adela's back. She screamed. "Stop it, please," she begged.

"Why should I?" the witch asked, laughing cruelly. "Don't you see yet that we're both human beings? Yet you and your evil friends showed me no mercy."

Fiery, burning pain shot through Adela's entire body. "I'm sorry," she sobbed out, her tears running down her face and dripping into the pool of blood that was now up to Adela's waist.

A green light shone bright, filling the room.

* * *

Adela bolted awake, covered in sweat. She looked around quickly. The cement room filled with the blood of Muggles was gone. She was safe in her bedroom, and everything was the same as ever. She ran her hands slowly over the deep green silk sheets, taking comfort from the familiar touch of the fabric. A sickening feeling had settled in the pit of her stomach that she couldn't shake, even as her fear ebbed away.

She slipped out of bed and pulled on the black cashmere sweater laying on the chair in the corner of the room. Adela opened and closed her door softly, then crept down the hallway to her brother's room. She knocked softly at the door and peeked inside. "Rabastan?" she whispered.

The slim, dark haired man laying in the bed across the room looked up at her from the Quidditch magazine he was reading. "Adela? What are you doing here?"

Adela stepped inside and closed the door behind her. "I had a nightmare and just didn't want to be alone, if that's ok with you."

Her older brother patted the bed beside him as he scooted over to make room for her. "Sure, come on, sit down. I was just reading about the Quidditch World Cup next month if you're still interested in the latest on that."

Adela smiled slightly as she crossed the room and crawled into the bed with her favorite brother. "Of course I'm still interested! What teams are playing this year again?"

Rabastan replied, "Brazil and France look to be the ones to make it to the finals, but they still have to beat out the Irish and the Germans before anything's truly final."

"Oh ok, cool," Adela said quietly. She wrapped her arms around his right arm and settled down. She sat with him, quietly reading over his shoulder for a while before breaking the silence again. "Rabastan, have you ever felt guilty for what we do, to the Muggles and mudbloods?"

He laughed. "Of course not, you silly little girl. They're beneath us; they deserve it. Don't tell me you do?" Adela shrugged. Rabastan suddenly became very serious, any trace of jest gone from his face. "Don't you ever dare let anyone else know that. You're lucky that I see that this is simply the result of the foolishness of a freshly graduated seventeen year old girl. Anyone else would have immediately branded you a blood traitor. If the Dark Lord ever found out that you were wavering like this, you would be severely punished, if not sentenced to death."

Adela turned toward him. "I know that, but something just doesn't feel right."

Rabastan suddenly slapped her hard across the face. "Shut up. Adela. Just shut up. Don't ever say anything like that again. Do you understand me? You're a pureblood and about to become a Death Eater and damn proud of it. And as Death Eaters and purebloods you and I are completely in the right to torture and kill those beneath us and those who stand in our way of making this world pure. Don't you ever forget that again, you got that?"

Adela blinked away the tears welling up in her eyes from the force of the hit. Her right eye and cheek stung from the blow. "Yes, I understand," she whispered.

"Good." Rabastan grumbled, "Now go back to bed. Get some sleep; forget all of that nonsense."

Adela nodded, quickly getting up and exiting his room.

* * *

Six days passed by too quickly. Adela had barely slept the entire time. Every time she fell asleep, she had more nightmares like the one from the night she had killed the mudblood. Every night the dreams worsened, and every day the guilt weighed more heavily on her mind. She didn't bother going to Rabastan with it anymore; he wouldn't hear any of it. The siblings had barely spoken since the night he'd slapped her. It wasn't the first time one of Adela's brothers had hurt her, so Adela knew better than to bring up the subject with Rabastan again.

The Dark Lord had commanded one more test of his newest recruits' loyalties. Adela and Regulus, along with certain Death Eaters, were to attack a Muggle coffee shop in the middle of Muggle London called the Golden Egg. It was a simple plan: create chaos within the café, torture and kidnap for future torture any Muggles they chose, and burn the place to the ground. There were two full fledged Death Eaters to accompany Adela and Regulus. Rodolphus LeStrange and Bellatrix, Rodolphus's wife and Regulus's cousin, had been trusted to ensure that things went according to plan.

Things didn't go according to plan. As soon as the four Slytherins walked into the Golden Egg, masked and in black robes, Bellatrix dropped the worker behind the counter with a Killing Curse. Immediately an unforeseen detail presented itself. Three men at a table in the corner of the café pulled out wands and began throwing curses back at the four Death Eaters. Adela immediately recognized one of the wizards as Alastor Moody, the auror. Spells flew back and forth from both sides of the Golden Egg, some hitting Muggles as they ran for the door.

Adela watched as a Muggle was caught clean across the throat by the Sectumsempra curse thrown from Regulus's wand. Nausea gripped Adela as she watched the bright red blood pour from the man's throat as he grasped at his own throat, trying to stop the fast flow of blood even as he collapsed, first to his knees, then to the floor, dead.

Even as Adela cast a spell to lock the door of the Golden Egg to prevent any more Muggles from escaping, she thought to herself just how sick all of this truly was. Suddenly she felt something wet grab her foot. Spinning she saw a Muggle woman grabbing her foot with her bloody hand, blood spilling from her arms and chest. "Help me, please," the woman begged softly.

Adela, startled and frightened, kicked the woman away from her, quickly running over to where Bellatrix and Regulus had taken cover behind a toppled over table. Bellatrix noticed her and instructed, "Adela, get as close as you can to that auror Moody. Use Fiendfyre to kill him and set this place on fire. As soon as the flames take root we'll disapparate back to the Black house. I expect you to meet us there. Understand?"

Adela nodded, tossing a Cruciatus Curse the tall wizard with shaggy dark hair a few feet in front of her. The curse hit him square in the chest and dropped him to his knees, giving her a chance to run across the room safely toward Moody. Standing two feet away from the auror, his wand suddenly aimed at her and a fierce look of determination in his eyes, Adela suddenly became keenly aware that if she didn't attack him in under a second, she would be dropped to the floor with a Stunning Spell, only to be set fire to along with the Muggles that filled the room, unable to disapparate and save herself. Adela wasn't entirely sure why she made the choice she did, but at the last second she changed her aim from at the auror to four feet to his left. "Fiendfyre," she cried, and serpent made of fire slithered from the end of her wand onto an abandoned table, setting it on fire. She saw Moody forming the Stunning Spell, and instead of dodging it, she grabbed on to his wand arm, knowing that a second after she was unconscious he would disapparate, accidentally taking her along with him.

A second later, everything went dark.


	2. Chapter 2

Adela woke up, unsure of where she was or what had happened. The one thing she was sure of, even with her eyes still closed, was that the room she was in was filled with a very bright light. Her head was pounding furiously, and her body ached. She finally opened her eyes and sat up slowly, and found herself in the Hospital Wing of Hogwarts. As soon as Madame Pomfrey spotted that Adela was awake, she ran out the door. A few minutes later the mediwitch returned, with Professor Dumbledore and Alastor Moody in tow. Professor Dumbledore smiled at Adela and said warmly, "Well, hello, Miss LeStrange. How nice to see you awake again. Tell me, what brings you here?"

Adela glanced nervously at the intimidating figure that was "Mad Eye" Moody. "I have a feeling, Professor, that if Moody is here, that means you already know what brought me here."

Professor Dumbledore sat down at the foot of the bed. "So you did grab onto Alastor as he was about to apparate in order to follow him and see where he and the other two members of the Order of the Phoenix would go?"

Adela suddenly felt very nervous, her body shaking like a leaf in the wind. This was a no-win situation for her; either she would go to Azkaban for her crimes, or she would most likely be killed by her family and friends, her fellow Death Eaters, her Dark Lord, as a blood traitor. She took a slow deep breath, then confessed, "Not to see where they went, but yes, I did grab onto him knowing that he would take me with him whenever he disapparated. I don't really know why, I just…" Adela sighed, unsure of how to say what she was feeling. "Nothing I'm doing feels right anymore, but following an auror that I and my family were fighting against, that I had been told to kill, for some reason felt right."

Dumbledore nodded. "Perhaps, Miss LeStrange, you are beginning to learn that perhaps Voldemort and his followers are wrong in the things that they say and do. Maybe Muggles and Muggle-borns are not such terrible people after all?"

Adela shook her head. "If I agree with you, I'll never be able to go home. If I go home a blood traitor, not only will the Dark Lord not give me the Dark Mark, but the best I can expect is endless torture and a life spent under the Imperius Curse, or at worst my family will kill me."

Dumbledore watched Adela knowingly. "I see. So you realize then, that should we allow you to leave, you could still go home now and claim to have been taken prisoner by the Order of the Phoenix and return to your former life. What happens if we really do keep you here a prisoner, Miss LeStrange?"

Adela said calmly, "Moody's an auror. I don't have the Dark Mark yet, but I've been identified as one in a group of Death Eaters attacking a Muggle coffee shop in London. Moody will arrest me, the aurors will torture me to try to extract information about the Dark Lord and his forces, and when they're through with me, I'll be sent to Azkaban without a trial for being a Death Eater."

Moody growled, "We won't just be letting you walk out the front door of this castle, LeStrange. You best make your decision which side of this war you're on quick, or you'll find yourself face to face with about fifty dementors by the end of the night."

Adela shivered at the mention of the dementors. She stared deep into Dumbledore's blue eyes, searching for a scrap of hope to grab on to that she had a way out of the mess she had put herself in. "It started six days ago. There was a mudblood woman. I never heard her name. She was tortured for hours before she was finally killed. It's what earned me the Dark Mark. I was supposed to receive my mark tomorrow night — or maybe tonight? I don't even know what day it is for sure anymore. Anyway, that night I started having these nightmares about that woman. I don't know why, but ever since then I can't sleep, I can barely eat. I just feel so horrible, so guilty." Adela shook her head. "Look, I don't know what's right or wrong anymore, or who I agree with, I just know that the woman… She hadn't done anything to deserve what happened to her."

Dumbledore nodded. "Alastor, I believe Miss LeStrange has learned a valuable lesson. I don't think she will be of any use to the aurors, and I certainly don't believe that Azkaban will have any use for her." Moody huffed, then turned and walked out of the Infirmary. Turning back to Adela, Dumbledore offered, "However, you could be of great use to me. You see, it just so happens that I am the head of the Order of the Phoenix. In case you have not been informed already of this organization, it is a group of fighters who are trying to stop Voldemort from seizing power and murdering not only innocent, defenseless Muggles, but our friends, our families, and our loved ones. The Order is in desperate need of better information regarding Voldemort and his followers. Could you help us?"

Adela shook her head. "I'd be betraying my family and my friends if I did that."

"From what I hear, Miss LeStrange, it would seem that they have most likely abandoned you already. After all, you did run away during a battle with their enemies. I doubt you would be welcomed back with open arms." Dumbledore paused. "Just how did you get that nasty bruise on your eye and cheek, and the cut? They don't look as though they came from the battle at the Golden Egg."

Adela gingerly touched the barely healing cut just under her eye. Her brother's family crest ring had left that on her face after he had slapped her. "I said something I shouldn't have, nothing more."

Dumbledore nodded. "I see. Well, I certainly understand your hesitancy to betray your family." Dumbledore rose from the bed. "You will find your wand and other things in the drawer of the bedside stand. I have arranged for you to stay with two young members of the Order of the Phoenix for the next two weeks. That will give you plenty of time to mull over this momentous decision that you must make."

"I'm sorry, Professor," Adela interrupted. "But what members might that be?"

"Ah, that would be Mr. James Potter and Mr. Sirius Black. I'm sure you remember them; they were in your year here at Hogwarts. I'm sure you've taken several classes together. They share a flat in London, at least until Mr. Potter finally proposes to Miss Evans. I believe it would be the most appropriate place to send you. Mr. Black will be by any minute to take you back to the flat." Dumbledore started towards the door, then paused and turned back. "Oh, and in case you did not know, Mr. Potter and Mr. Black were the other two wizards fighting alongside Alastor back at the café. They are aware of your past allegiances and will take the necessary precautions to ensure their own safety, as well as the safety of those they love." Adela nodded, and Dumbledore left her alone with her thoughts.

* * *

Adela sat on the front steps of the castle, staring down at the Death Eater mask in her hands.

"LeStrange?"

Adela sighed and looked up from her mask. Sirius Black stood in front of her, blocking the sun from getting in her eyes. Adela couldn't help but be reminded of the fiancé she had left behind as she looked at the man. Sirius had always been better looking than his brother, but Regulus was still her fiancé, as long as no one back home had found out that she had gone rougue yet.

Adela had known the Black brothers since birth practically. Since her two brothers were so much older than Adela, she had often been sent over to Grimmauld Place to spend time with the boy she was eventually expected to marry. Of course, that was before Sirius had shown his true colors as a Gryffindor and a blood traitor. Sirius had always been the kinder of the two brothers, even as a small child, but he always insisted that he would never marry Adela whenever she teased him about it. Sirius had said that he would never marry someone just because someone told him to, but because he loved whoever it was. Then Sirius would turn around and say that he would never fall in love, that he was going to be a famous Quidditch player and would never marry anyone. Just like any little boy, little six year old Sirius Black had thought girls were "icky."

Adela said quietly, "Hello, Sirius. I think this is the first time you've spoken to me since we were little kids."

Sirius shrugged. "Things weren't so complicated when we were little kids." He sat down beside her on the steps. "I hear you haven't taken the mark yet."

Adela shook her head. "Something just doesn't feel right about it anymore."

Sirius grinned. "Turning into a blood traitor on us at last, LeStrange?"

Adela smiled and shook her head. "I don't know, Black. I had a different experience with our families than you did growing up. It's not so easy for me to just walk away. I still love them; they still love me. I've not been burnt off the tapestries just yet," she laughed.

Sirius chuckled. "Yeah, I suppose that does make things a little easier." He nudged her arm. "I didn't appreciate that Cruciatus Curse earlier, by the way."

Adela nodded. "Of course that was you. Well, I'm sorry about that."

Sirius shrugged. "Eh, no big deal. You aren't the first person from that family to hit me with that spell. I doubt you'll be the last." He hesitated. "How is Regulus?"

Adela shrugged. "Same as always, I suppose. Obsessed with blood purity. Circumventing the Trace thanks to that great uncle or whatever of yours in the Ministry." She paused. "He's supposed to accept the Dark Mark with me tonight."

The color seemed to drain from Sirius's face. "Already?" he exclaimed. "He's still sixteen; he hasn't even graduated yet."

Adela replied, "The Dark Lord already finds him exceptionally useful. He believes Regulus is already worthy of the mark. Although Regulus always says I don't show him enough respect and deference as my fiancé in front of the Dark Lord. The truth is, Regulus can handle the Cruciatus and Imperius curses all day long, but he has a weak stomach when it comes to death."

Sirius shook his head. "It's so wrong. You see that now, right? Everything the Death Eaters are doing, it's messed up."

"I don't know what to think anymore. I'm not even sure why I'm here. I just need some space to figure things out I guess, before I go and do anything big like taking the Dark Mark. I take that mark, and there's no going back. The Dark Lord will be able to track me, wherever I am. There won't be any escape."

Sirius stood up and offered a hand to Adela. "The very fact that you think you might need the ability to escape from the Dark Lord later tells me that the last thing you should do is ever go back to them."

Adela accepted his hand and let him help her up. "We'll see."

* * *

"Well, this is the place," Sirius declared, unlocking the door to a small flat in Soho. Adela peeked around Sirius nervously, knowing she had to face yet another auror in training once inside. "It's not much, but it's home."

As Sirius and Adela stepped inside the door, the two caught sight of a dark haired man and redheaded woman snogging on the couch. Sirius burst out laughing and said, "And this, LeStrange, is the ever-common sight of a stag and a doe about to mate."

The two on the couch jumped apart quickly, startled. The man, James Potter, threw a couch cushion at Sirius, who easily deflected it with a wave of his wand. "Padfoot, you prat," James protested indignantly, straightening his glasses.

Sirius continued, "Adela, I'm sure you remember the respectable Mr. James Potter from the Golden Egg. And this lovely young lady is Miss Lily Evans, James's girlfriend."

Adela offered a small smile to the couple and a quiet hello. Lily stood up quickly. "I still don't understand why Dumbledore is having you two watch her, and I especially don't understand why she's still being allowed to have a wand."

James sighed from where he sat behind Lily. "Lily, dear…"

Lily huffed. "No, James. She killed all those Muggles and used an Unforgiveable Curse on Sirius. I won't trust her until there's some evidence she actually deserves to be trusted."

Sirius said, "Can't you at least trust Dumbledore's judgment?"

Lily sighed. "I trust Dumbledore, but Dumbledore can be wrong about people. He has been before; he said so himself." She turned around to face James. "I'll see you later." With that, she quickly left the flat.

James sighed. "Sorry about that," he said quietly. He stood up and walked over into the kitchen and began rummaging through the cabinets.

Sirius watched his best friend for a moment before turning back to Adela. "Anyway, Lily's right about one thing, and that's that we aren't going to be trusting you with your wand. You have already used an Unforgiveable on one of us. You'll have to forgive us for taking precautions until we're sure you're trustworthy. Hand it over." Adela hesitated, then slowly handed over her wand. "Thank you very much, I'll be hanging on to that for a while. Anyway, this is the sitting room, over there's the kitchen, as you can see. Down the hall, first door on the left, is the loo. Second door on the left is the wardrobe; the third is my bedroom, which is where you'll be sleeping so that I can keep an eye on you at night. The door on the right side of the hall is James's room; I'd suggest staying out of there if I were you. All right, well, make yourself at home."

* * *

The room was full of smoke. Adela could barely breathe, but as she stumbled around the seemingly endless room, she couldn't find her way out. She could hear screaming coming from all around her and the crackle of fire. Flickering orange light and smoke filled her vision, until the mudblood once again appeared in front of her. Adela tried to scream, but smoke filled her lungs. The nameless dead witch laughed. "You did this to yourself," the woman shouted. "When will you ever learn?"

Adela fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face. "I'm so sorry," she cried. "Please, leave me alone." Adela could feel the heat of the flames licking at her skin, could feel the torturous pain of the fire eating away at her nerve endings. "I'll never do it again," Adela screamed. "Please, make it stop." Everything grew black as the pain continued to take over Adela's body.

* * *

Adela bolted upright in the bed, drenched in sweat. She felt a hand suddenly grab her arm and screamed, jumping out from under the covers and stumbling. She fell to the floor, feeling around for her wand, though it was no where to be found. Sirius quickly ran around the other side of the bed to her, kneeling on the floor beside her. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Sirius said soothingly. "It's just me. What the hell was all that?"

James darted into the room, wand at the ready. "What's going on in here?" he demanded.

Adela shook her head quickly, trembling. "I'm sorry," she croaked out, her voice hoarse.

Sirius gently brushed Adela's brown hair off her sweat covered forehead. "I think she just had a bad dream. Go on back to bed, Prongs."

James shook his head. "Fine, but next time I hear screams in this flat, I'm not coming running."

Sirius chuckled softly. "Fair enough, mate." James walked out and shut the door. Sirius turned back to Adela. "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to scare you before. Just checking if you were all right."

Adela nodded quickly, wrapping her arms around herself. "I'm fine. You just startled me. I forgot I wasn't at home, that's all."

Sirius watched her intently, then nodded. "Want to talk about it?" he asked. Adela shook her head. "Are you sure?"

Adela hesitated. " I tried to talk to Rabastan about it once. Didn't end well."

Sirius stared at her intently. "Is that where that bruise came from?" Adela nodded. Sirius sighed, sitting down and leaning back against the bed. "You know that no one here is going to hurt you, right?"

Adela answered, "I know that. But that doesn't make me feel much better about it."

Sirius gently nudged her shoulder. "Hey, I know what those people are like. If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, no one will understand better than I will."

Adela fidgeted, then stood up and crawled back onto the bed. The blue cotton sheets felt so different from her silk sheets at home, so unfamiliar. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs as Sirius walked around to climb onto the other side of the bed. Adela hesitated, then said quietly, "A week ago, Regulus and I tortured and killed a mudblood witch. Every night since then I've been dreaming about her. I feel so incredibly guilty for what I did to her. It's made me start questioning everything. Rabastan told me to never mention it to anyone again, or he wouldn't protect me from the consequences. I'm not sure whether or not I still believe in blood purity anymore, but the alternative means turning against my family, my friends, my fiancé. They'll all hate me every bit as much as any Muggle. I'm not sure I want that."

Sirius patted her knee. "I understand. Walking away from that life won't be easy, but it's not impossible. The Order will protect you. Voldemort and his Death Eaters will try to kill you, but we'll keep you safe. You can help us fight to protect the innocent, like that Muggle-born woman you and my brother killed. You can protect people like that woman, keep the Muggles safe. They can't protect themselves, you know. You can make amends for the people you've hurt by protecting the people they cared about."

Adela shook her head. "I hit you with a Cruciatus Curse. How can you act like the other Order members will forget that so easily?"

Sirius grinned. "I never said it would be easy, but it is simple. I forgive you for doing that. I'm still angry about it, but I do forgive you for it. Eventually the others will forgive you for your past too, once you prove to them that they can trust you."

Adela thought about that for a long moment. If she did what he asked and joined the Order of the Phoenix, she would become a target. She knew too much about the Dark Lord and the other Death Eaters; the Dark Lord would order her death to be painful and immediate. Then she remembered the way that the mudblood woman had looked, pitiful and bleeding on the cement floor, reaching out to her for help, begging for mercy. Why had that woman reached out to her? Why Adela specifically? Adela shook her head. She would never know the answer to that question. For all she knew, Adela had simply been the closest person to reach to. It didn't matter. No one deserved to suffer such pain.

"All right, Sirius. I'm in. Tell Dumbledore that I'll tell him everything I know," Adela declared.


	3. Chapter 3

Adela stepped quietly into the bedroom. Sirius was passed out in the bed after a late night out. He had told her he was out on Order business, but wouldn't offer any more information than that. James was out somewhere with Lily Evans again. He didn't spend any more time at the flat than he had to when Sirius was there with her. Adela got the feeling that James didn't care to be around her very much. She honestly couldn't blame him.

Adela patted quietly over to the nightstand, slowly opened the top drawer, and rummaged around inside it until she found her wand. She gently replaced the drawer, then quickly left the room. The entire time, Sirius didn't stir.

Adela walked down the hall to the sitting room, not entirely sure of what to do now. The morning after she had told Sirius that she would join the Order, Sirius had sent an owl to Dumbledore in France. Dumbledore was not due to return from his business trip for several days, so Adela had been instructed to wait for his return with Sirius and James. Three days had passed, and still there had been no more word from Dumbledore. Adela was feeling more and more anxious as the days passed. Her nightmares had finally stopped, but she could still barely sleep.

Silently, Adela sat down on the couch and began creating small blue smoke rings with her wand. She watched them float up into the air, then vanish just before they hit the ceiling. She stood and walked over to the fireplace, searching for the floo powder, her decision made. Just as she grabbed a handful of the shimmering silver powder, Adela heard a disappointed voice behind her say, "Adela, what are you doing?"

Adela hung her head, recognizing Sirius's voice. "I thought you were still asleep."

Sirius took a few slow steps closer to her. "I was asleep. The first thing I do when I wake up is check that drawer and make sure your wand is still there. This time it wasn't. What are you doing?" She turned around slowly, her wand in one hand, lowered, the floo powder still in the other. "Ah," Sirius said knowingly, spotting the powder. "Or should I be asking where you are going?"

Adela took a step backward, standing as close to the empty fireplace as she could. "I'm coming back," she mumbled.

"That doesn't answer the question, Adela."

Adela sighed. "I just want to try to get some of my things from home."

"You mean you just want to try to say goodbye to your family. You just want to try to make them understand why you're doing this." Adela's proud shoulders slumped and her face fell. "That's what I was afraid of. Adela, this is stupid and dangerous. You go back there now, and they'll kill you. I know you think they won't because you're family, because you're a pureblood, but they won't hesitate. They will kill you, or worse, it won't just be a quick Killing Curse, it'll be long and slow and painful. They could take years to torture you before they finally get around to killing you. Don't put yourself through that, Adela."

Adela shook her head. "They won't touch me," she protested. "I won't let them. They won't have the chance to kill me. I'll make them listen to me. They'll let me go." Sirius took another step closer to her, and Adela raised her wand at him. "Don't touch me, Sirius. I mean it."

Sirius looked into Adela's eyes, and saw a frightened, but determined, girl who wasn't about to change her mind willingly. "What makes you think you'll be anything different than a Muggle to them now? You're a blood traitor now, like me. You've seen first hand the way they treat me when they see me. What makes you think that they'll treat you any differently than me, huh?" Adela shook her head violently. "Listen to me, because I'm telling you the truth. You mean nothing to them anymore."

Adela cried, "Langlock," her wand pointed at Sirius, effectively gluing his tongue to the roof of his mouth. She threw the floo powder into the fireplace and said, "My bedroom, LeStrange Castle," stepped into the green glow before Sirius could stop her, and was gone.

* * *

Adela stepped out of the fireplace in her room. Immediately, Rabastan jumped up out of the chair in the corner of the room and yelled, "Rodolphus, Regulus, she's here. She's back; she came home." He ran over to her and grabbed her in a tight hug. "Adela, don't ever scare us like that again. Regulus said you'd been grabbed by that auror Moody. I thought I was going to pick up the Daily Prophet any day now and see your face under a headline that you were sent to Azkaban. You wouldn't be any good to us then."

Adela gently pushed her brother off her as she heard loud footsteps running quickly up the stairs. "Rabastan, I'm not here to stay. I'm here to say I can't take the Dark Mark. I'm saying goodbye."

The excitement disappeared from Rabastan's face, replaced quickly by fury. "What the hell do you think you're doing? You can't refuse the Dark Mark." Rabastan slapped her already bruised face.

Adela blinked back tears as Rodolphus and Regulus rushed into the room. She mumbled, "What we're doing is wrong though. Those people haven't hurt us; why should we hurt them?"

"Crucio!" Suddenly, Adela screamed as she felt the worst pain of her life, like hot knives digging into every nerve ending in her body. She fell to her hands and knees in front of Rabastan, then collapsed to the floor, still screaming and writhing in pain. Rodolphus released her from the curse. "Consider yourself lucky that Father and Mother are still in Bulgaria; they would have killed you on the spot." The more heavy set of the two LeStrange men turned to Regulus. "Black, you are to be her husband next summer. In the absence of our parents, I'm making this blood traitor your responsibility. This is her last chance. Keep the witch under control. I'm going to go alert the Dark Lord to her return. She was captured by aurors as we expected, but has returned, ready to accept her Dark Mark immediately. You will ensure she learns her lesson for such outrageous behavior. Understand?" Regulus nodded. "Excellent. Come, Rabastan."

Without another glance at his baby sister, Rodolphus left the room. Rabastan glanced down at Adela, then quickly followed after the oldest sibling. Regulus closed the door behind Rabastan, not seeing Adela quickly grab her wand from where it had fallen on the floor and hiding it. "Adela, Adela, Adela," Regulus chided. "What the hell were you thinking? First my brother, now my fiancé turning into a blood traitor. Well, we'll take care of this. Don't worry, Adela, we'll fix that little head of yours. I'll make sure you don't lose your senses." Regulus knelt down in front of Adela as she scrambled to sit up and back away from her fiancé. Regulus put her back under the Cruciatus Curse, making her scream. His curse didn't hurt quite as much as Rodolphus's had, but it definitely hurt enough. "I hope you learn your lesson this time, because from now you'll never be left alone again. The Dark Lord can't have you running around with his enemies trying to protect that Muggle filth. You're his precious little pet, and he's promised you to me. You're never leaving here again."

Adela quickly whipped out her wand as Regulus began to form the Imperius Curse and cried, "Everte Statum." Regulus flew backwards across the room and slammed into the opposite wall. She stumbled back into the fireplace and grabbed more floo powder, throwing it down and vanishing into the floo network before Regulus could get back on his feet and stop her.

* * *

Adela stumbled out of the fireplace into the flat in Soho and fell flat on her face on the floor. Sirius jumped up off the couch and ran over to her, kneeling down beside her. "Adela? Are you ok? What happened?" He pulled her up to sit on the floor beside him, running his hands over her body, checking for injuries. Suddenly, Sirius noticed a slow trickle of blood on her neck coming from the base of the back of her head. "I told you they'd do this to you as soon as they realized you wouldn't become a Death Eater." He pulled her wavy hair away from her neck to get a better look at the gash. "What'd they do to you?" he asked.

Adela pushed his hands away, clambering to her feet and backing away from him. She tripped over her own two feet and bumped into the wall, falling down again. Sirius scooted over to her and gently pulled her wand from her hand. When she tried to stand up again, Sirius pulled her back down to the floor. "Stay," he ordered. Tears ran down Adela's face, and Sirius brushed them away with his thumb. "Hold still, Adela. Let me look at your head; you're bleeding. You need to tell me what happened."

As Sirius looked again at the laceration on the back of her head, Adela sobbed. "Rodolphus and Regulus both put me under the Cruciatus Curse. They were going to call the Dark Lord to come there and give me the Dark Mark right then. Regulus was going to put me under the Imperius curse for the rest of my life. I still had my wand so I threw him back away from me with a spell so I could have the chance to come back here." She wiped at the tears on her face. "I can't believe this is really happening to me."

Sirius chuckled darkly. "I'm afraid you'll get used to it. How did you cut your head?"

Adela shrugged. "I don't know, I didn't notice it when it happened. I probably hit my head on the stone of the fireplace when they hit me with that curse." Sirius nodded slowly. Just then, there was a knock at the front door. Adela jumped, startled, and grabbed Sirius' hands where they were touching her neck. "Give me back my wand," she demanded.

Sirius laughed softly and shook his head. "Relax. If it was the Death Eaters after you, I seriously doubt they would have the good manners to knock at the front door. It's probably just Remus, I didn't get the chance to tell you this morning before I went to bed that he was coming by this afternoon."

Sirius started to stand, but Adela held him back. "Sirius, please," she begged.

He smiled down at her. "Relax," he commanded. Sirius walked over to the door and opened it, and in walked a tall man with shaggy, light brown hair. "Moony, welcome. It's about time you got here."

Remus laughed. "I had to catch up on sleep at some point; cut me some slack."

Adela wiped the tears of her face, suddenly very serious. She quickly and quietly got up from the floor and retreated back into the bedroom. She climbed into bed and curled up under the covers. Adela wasn't crying anymore. Instead, she stared hard at the diamond ring on her finger, wondering why she had ever agreed to marry a man who could be so intent on making sure she would act like someone she wasn't that he would put her under two Unforgiveable Curses. She questioned everything she had ever known, and while she felt like she was doing the right thing by joining the Order of the Phoenix, she couldn't help but feel horribly guilty for betraying her family.

* * *

A few hours later, Sirius slipped into the bedroom, closing the door behind him quietly. Adela was sitting up in bed when he came in, fidgeting with the engagement ring on her hand. Sirius sat down beside her. "Hey, dinner's ready. Why don't you come eat?"

Adela shook her head. "I'm not hungry."

Sirius watched Adela's newfound nervous habit with concern. "You know, I have a feeling that you won't be marrying Regulus anymore. You don't have to marry a Death Eater anymore. Actually, you don't have to be engaged at all. You don't have to wear that ring anymore."

Adela nodded. "I know," she whispered. "I'm just not ready to take it off yet."

"Ok," Sirius said. He pulled her wand out of his pocket, gently nudged her, then held the wand out to her. Adela simply stared at him, confused. "I'm going to trust you with this, Adela. You stole it back this morning, and even though you had the chance to go back to your family and make nice with them and become a Death Eater after all, you not only told them you were turning into a Muggle-lover on them, but you also came back here afterwards. You trust me to keep you safe, so I think it's only fair that you should be trusted to not attack us in our sleep."

Adela nodded slowly, then accepted the wand. "What did you say dinner was again?"

Sirius smiled, put his arm around her shoulders and squeezed her tight. "It's spaghetti. Remus even made breadsticks. The man's an absolute wizard in the kitchen," he said with a wink, making Adela giggle. "Come on, you've barely eaten the last couple of days. You have to be hungry, and you'll never convince me otherwise. You're going to eat something. And Remus is a member of the Order too, so it can't hurt for you to get to know him." Adela nodded with a smile, let Sirius pull her out of bed and to her feet, and lead her out of the room.

* * *

Hello, readers! Reviews are greatly appreciated! Thanks for reading! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**August 1978**

A month had passed since Professor Dumbledore had first introduced Adela to the Order of the Phoenix and declared her one of their own. No one had been particularly thrilled about her presence at the time, but as more and more of the information she had shared with the Order proved useful, the more tolerant the others had become. Unfortunately, Adela still had a long way to go before anyone there would truly trust her and enjoy her company.

Currently, the Order was gathered in Dumbledore's office in Hogwarts. Adela stood in a corner of the room quietly, hiding behind Sirius as he joked with Gideon and Fabian Prewett, feeling very much like the outsider she was. Dumbledore called for the Order's attention, and silence filled the room. "Now," Dumbledore began. "I'm afraid I have disturbing news. A month ago, our newest member, Miss LeStrange, informed me of a possible attack by Death Eaters on Hogsmeade." A sullen murmur traveled quickly around the room. "It seems that Voldemort and his Death Eaters believe that by doing so, he will frighten more witches and wizards into joining his ranks. Fortunately for us, Miss LeStrange warned us well enough ahead of time that we might be able to protect the residents of Hogsmeade. According to my other sources, this attack has been confirmed and shall most likely occur sometime in the next week. We will set up a twenty-four hour guard on the village until the attack occurs. There is to be no fewer than four members of the Order in Hogsmeade at all times."

As Dumbledore continued to explain the details of his plan, Fabian slipped behind Sirius to stand beside Adela. Fabian leaned over and whispered softly in her ear, "Well done, LeStrange."

Adela jumped slightly, surprised. "Thanks," she whispered back.

* * *

Three days later, Adela walked alongside a disgruntled Lily Evans down High Street in Hogsmeade just as dawn was breaking. Dumbledore had asked the two ladies to relieve Marlene McKinnon and Caradoc Dearborn after an overnight shift patrolling the community. During the entire walk from Dumbledore's office to Hogsmeade, Lily had been silent, not even looking over at Adela. As they approached the Three Broomsticks, Lily said, "For a few minutes, it'll just be the two of us until Remus and Gideon get here to send Frank and Alice home over at the Hog's Head. If anything happens before then, I'll need you to have my back. I don't trust you, LeStrange. I don't care how much accurate information you've given the Order."

Adela stopped just outside the pub. "I don't blame you for that, Evans. But is there anything I can do to earn your trust? Or anyone else in the Order, for that matter?"

Lily turned around slowly to face Adela. "I'll tell you what. If you ever do earn my trust, I'll let you know. Until then, no, there isn't anything."

Adela nodded understandingly, then they walked into the Three Broomsticks together. Adela quickly spotted Caradoc and Marlene sitting at the bar. Marlene was slumped over on her stool, half asleep. Caradoc noticed the two witches heading towards them and nudged Marlene awake. Lily gave Marlene a hug and Caradoc a smile. "Dumbledore sent us to take your place. You both can go home," Lily said.

Caradoc jumped up from his seat with far too much energy for a man who had been awake for twenty-four hours straight. "Excellent," he exclaimed. "Lily, Adela, you lovely ladies are angels in this world. I don't know what we'd do without you."

The four Order members walked together out of the Three Broomsticks. An anxious nervousness ate away at the back of Adela's mind. She turned to Caradoc and said quietly, "I don't know what it is, but something feels very off."

Caradoc stood still and listened intently, looking around. After a minute, he replied, "I'm sorry, Adela. I know you're just trying to help, but everything here seems fine." Caradoc patted Adela on the back, then disapparated.

Lily and Adela were left alone in the High Street, when Marlene disapparated as well. Adela shook her head. "Evans, I'm serious; something is wrong. Something just doesn't feel right about this place."

Lily shook her head. "Everything seems fine, LeStrange." The redhead marched down the street. "I don't know why you're being so much more paranoid than usual today."

Adela walked slowly behind the slightly taller woman, glancing around as she went. The pair was in front of Honeydukes Sweet Shoppe before Adela spotted it — a Death Eater sneaking around the corner of the building, about to attack Lily. "Evans, down," Adela commanded. Lily quickly dropped to her hands and knees. Adela sent a Stunning Spell flying through the space where Lily's head had just been, hitting the Death Eater in the face just as a jet of green light rushed from the tip of his wand. Adela jumped out of the way just as the Killing Curse was about to reach her.

Lily stood up and hurried over to Adela's side. "Do you see anymore?" she asked.

Adela shook her head. "No, but that guy won't have been here all alone. This smells like something Rabastan cooked up. He's all about stealth."

Lily nodded, gazing around quickly. "I don't think Remus and Gideon are here yet. Frank and Alice are probably dead on their feet in the Hog's Head. What are we going to do? If this place is crawling with Death Eaters, we can't take them all on, just the two of us."

Adela yelled, "Steleus," her wand aimed at the corner of the hairdressing salon. A man in a black cloak emerged from behind the building, sneezing his head off thanks to her spell. "Stupefy!" A red light hit the Death Eater mid-sneeze, and he dropped to the ground, unconscious. "Their plan relies on the element of surprise. So let's take that away from them. They can't surprise these people in their sleep and murder them in their beds if the people are awake and aware something's wrong. Go set off a Caterwauling Charm, that should wake everybody up."

Lily demanded, "And just what are you going to do, LeStrange?"

Adela replied easily, "I'm going to do what I've been being told I should do for the past couple of years — send up the Dark Mark into the sky, then run and find a fireplace and try to contact as many Order members as possible before the Death Eaters find me and kill me." Lily nodded and took off down the street. A few moments later, a high pitched screech could be heard throughout the entire village, followed by shouts and the sounds of a heated battle. Adela aimed her wand at the clouds and cried, "Morsmordre!"

The sky instantly darkened, and green-gray clouds filled the sky and formed a skull with a snake slithering from its mouth. As soon as the mark formed, Killing Spells flew at Adela from all directions. She screamed and dove to the ground, barely missing getting hit by one of the spells. She scrambled up and over to the door of the sweet shop, used her wand to unlock the door, then ran and hid inside before the Death Eaters improved their aim.

Adela darted across the store to the fireplace in the back, quickly locating and grabbing a handful of Floo powder. Throwing it in the fireplace, Adela called Dumbledore in his office and informed him that Hogsmeade was under attack. Dumbledore agreed to start calling in more Order members. Adela grabbed more Floo powder and used it call Sirius and James's flat. Sirius dashed over to the fireplace as soon as he saw her face in the embers. "LeStrange, what's wrong?"

"Get to Hogsmeade. Grab James, and get here now," Adela demanded. "This place is crawling with Death Eaters. Lily and I got separated. No one else is here. Help!"

Sirius began saying something, but Adela didn't hear it. She suddenly felt a hand on her ankle, yanking her head out of the fireplace, making her scream and kick in the general direction of whoever had hold of her. The Death Eater looming over her kicked her as hard as he could in the ribs. Adela groaned and tried to crawl away from her assailant, reaching for her dropped wand. The Death Eater said, a smirk floating in his voice, "You've made a grave mistake, baby sister."

Adela felt a shudder ripple down her spine. "Rabastan, please, let me go," she begged.

Rabastan let out a cold, heartless laugh. "Adela, this was never something I wanted for you. You brought this on yourself, running around with all these blood traitors you call friends. And you can make this stop. Let me help you. Come home; let your big brothers take care of you. You can still earn the Dark Lord's forgiveness. The Dark Lord is willing to let you take the Dark Mark in spite of your betrayal. You won't be marked for death anymore if you'd just come home. Regulus is even still willing to marry you. After a few months, it will be as though you never left."

Adela shook her head, "Rabastan, I can't do that. I can't be a Death Eater anymore. Too much has changed."

Rabastan kicked her again. "Nothing has changed, you stupid little girl. You're just incredibly stubborn. I should've known that the second you got near that traitor Black you'd be too naïve and weak to stay true to our cause."

Adela protested, "Sirius had nothing to do with this; the decision was mine."

"Silence, Adela," Rabastan snapped angrily. "Crucio!" Adela shrieked, her entire body feeling as though it was burning from the inside out. She didn't know how long she was under the curse before her brother finally released her. "You insolent little witch. I don't care what Black and his stupid friends have convinced you to think, but you will be coming home with me. I don't care how long we have to keep you under the Imperius Curse before you finally see reason; you will come home and remain under control. Once you've been marked a proper Death Eater, Black and his pals will never come anywhere near you again, unless they have a death wish. Crucio!" Adela cried out in pain again, twisting and thrashing on the floor.

As Rabastan released her from the torture curse again, tears escaped from Adela's eyes. "Rabastan, please," she begged hopelessly.

The man shook his head. "I'm doing this for your own good, darling sister. When you learn your lesson and join your family and your fiancé again, then I won't have to hurt you like this anymore." He repeatedly delivered more swift kicks to the petite girl's torso, making her cry out in pain.

Rabastan put Adela back under the torture curse, as Sirius burst into the room. "Stupefy," Sirius shouted.

Rabastan blocked the Stunning Spell, thereby freeing Adela from his curse. Adela slowly crawled over to where her wand lay discarded on the floor, picked it up, and used the wall to push herself up to stand on her feet. Sirius and Rabastan were engaged in a deadly duel; spells were flying everywhere. Adela threw a few jinxes at her brother, who blocked them all with some difficulty, as Sirius continued to back Rabastan into a corner. Once Rabastan realized he couldn't defeat them both, he growled out, "You'll take the Dark Mark one day, Adela, one way or another." With a crack, Rabastan disapparated.

As soon as her Death Eater brother was gone, Adela slid down the wall to sit on the floor. Sirius rushed over to her. "Adela! Are you all right? I'm sorry; I didn't know which shop you were in. I apparated into the village in front of the Three Broomsticks and found Lily. She didn't know where you were; I had to go to every building between there and here before I found you."

Adela coughed, her lungs burning. "Sirius," she tried to say, but her voice was so hoarse it was barely audible.

Sirius abruptly looked worried. "Adela, are you ok? What's wrong? Talk to me."

She shook her head. "Other… Death Eaters…"

At that moment, Remus and Gideon arrived through the front door of the shop and found Adela and Sirius in the back. "There you two are," exclaimed Gideon. "It looks like we've run all the Death Eaters out of Hogsmeade. Only one of the locals got hit by any of the curses, but he'll survive."

Sirius nodded, then turned his attention back to Adela. "Everyone else is safe. Let us take care of you. What's wrong?"

Adela's breathing was shallow and quick. Every breath stung like a thousand tiny pricks. With some difficulty, she whispered, "My chest… it hurts…"

Remus leaned down beside Sirius's crouched form. Remus said quietly, "We need to get her to Madame Pomfrey as fast as possible. Something's seriously wrong with her."

Sirius slipped his arms under Adela's knees and around her back, picking her up off the ground as he stood up. Adela coughed hard, and her breath sounded crackly. She felt weak and could barely hold her head up. Gideon approached and brushed her hair out of her face, then placed the back of his hand against her forehead. "She feels too hot," he muttered. "A curse maybe? Or poison?"

Adela coughed, her whole body shaking. Sirius brushed past Gideon and carried Adela up to the Hogwarts castle as quickly as he could. Adela's head slumped against his chest, Sirius hastened over to the Hospital Wing, where Madame Pomfrey awaited. "I don't know what's wrong with her," Sirius rushed. "She was under the torture curse, but that shouldn't have left anything physically wrong with her."

Sirius gently laid Adela down on one of the beds. Adela mumbled, "Kick… chest…" before coughing again.

Madame Pomfrey performed a couple quick diagnostic spells. "Miss LeStrange has four broken ribs on the left side of her chest. One of those broken ribs has punctured the left lung, causing the coughing, fatigue, high fever, and low blood pressure."

Sirius took a slow, deep breath to steady his nerves. "Will she be ok?"

Madame Pomfrey moved her wand slowly over the left side of Adela's chest. "She will be just fine. This spell will heal the lung puncture." Madame Pomfrey summoned a potion from across the room and made Adela drink the shimmery white liquid. "That will heal her broken ribs." Waving her wand once more, Madame Pomfrey declared, "And that will heal the fever and correct her blood pressure. She'll be fine within minutes."

Sirius smiled wide. "Thank you, Madame Pomfrey."

* * *

Adela woke up in a soft, warm bed, not sure of where she was, but unwilling to open her eyes and find out. Her body felt sore and far too stiff, but otherwise everything seemed normal. She finally relented and slowly opened her eyes. The room was dark, but she recognized it as Sirius's bedroom in the flat he shared with James. Adela noticed the heavy feeling of an arm draped over her waist. She slowly twisted around, turning over to face the man behind her, finding Sirius's sparkling gray eyes watching her attentively. Sirius smiled. "I was beginning to think you'd never wake up. That potion Madame Pomfrey gave you to help you recover knocked you out. That was strong stuff."

Adela said softly, "I don't remember even seeing Madame Pomfrey. The last thing I remember was you…" She let her voice trail off.

Sirius smirked good-naturedly. "Me picking you up and carrying you over to the castle?"

Adela smiled. "Well, I remember you picking me up in Honeydukes. I don't remember ever leaving there though." She paused. "What was wrong with me?"

"Madame Pomfrey found four broken ribs, a punctured lung, a fever and low blood pressure. She fixed you up within minutes. You've still got the bruises on your left side, but everything else is healed." Sirius gently touched her face. "What happened before I got there?"

Adela shuddered, her whole body suddenly feeling very cold. Sirius, sensing the sudden change in her mood, pulled her closer to him under the covers. "It was Rabastan," she said slowly. "He used the Cruciatus Curse on me for so long… But he also kept kicking me in the side, over and over and over…"

Sirius stared at her intently, then hugged her. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I should have been there sooner."

Adela shook her head. "Believe it or not, I'm glad you weren't. This is the first time I've ever really had to fight against my family, my old friends. I needed to know that that's the way things are really going to be from now. It was the worst thing that's ever happened to me, but I needed to know how truly awful my family could be. It just makes me want to fight back even more."

Sirius grinned. "Well, good then. Speaking of fighting, I hear you saved Lily Evans's life today."

Adela laughed faintly. "I hadn't thought about it, but I suppose I did."

Sirius said happily, "Well, she's still not sure about you, but I think she finally trusts you now. Actually, I think with that one move, you've won over most of the Order's trust and friendship for life. Your stuck with us now, LeStrange. I mean really, saving a Muggle-born's life? What will your brothers say?"

Adela laughed at his teasing, and Sirius snickered along with her. Her eyes suddenly felt very heavy. As the laughter quieted down, Adela settled back down in the bed, curled up with her head against Sirius's chest. "I've slept most of the day. Why am I still so sleepy?" she grumbled.

Sirius chuckled softly. "You're fine. Go on back to sleep Adela; you're safe here. I won't let anyone hurt you." Adela barely nodded her head, then was asleep in seconds.


	5. Chapter 5

**October 1978**

Adela stood in the kitchen, casting a spell to make the dirty dishes wash themselves. Sirius and James sat at the kitchen table, watching the girl's petite figure move about the kitchen. James whispered over to Sirius, "Bring up the subject already, Padfoot."

Sirius mumbled back, "She's been so happy the past couple of months. I don't want to start making things difficult for her again."

"If she wants to be a member of the Order, she has to be able to do it," James insisted. "Dumbledore says so. It's our main form of communication, and a major asset to our defenses. If she needs to do it to defend herself and can't, we won't always be there to make sure she stays safe." Sirius shook his head. "Tell her, or I will. And you know that she always takes news better from you."

Sirius sighed. "Fine," he snapped at James. He hesitated, then called, "Adela?"

"Hmm?" Adela turned around from the sink and smiled at the boys.

"Come over here a minute, LeStrange," James said. "Sirius has something to talk to you about."

"Hey now," Sirius protested. "Don't you go running off, Prongs." Addressing Adela, he continued, "We both have something to talk to you about."

Adela sat at the table with them, her gaze shifting between the two mischievous men suspiciously. "James, Sirius, what's going on?"

The two Marauders exchanged a glance, then Sirius began, "Dumbledore thinks that you've spent far more time learning the Dark Arts than learning how to defend yourself against them. He's worried that in a battle against the Death Eaters, you'll fight back with offensive dark magic instead of defensive light magic." Sirius noticed Adela's eyes narrowing at him, so he rushed the rest of the words. "Dumbledore wants you to start training in defense against the dark arts, particularly by dueling with members of the Order. His main concern, though, is that you learn how to cast the Patronus Charm. Nearly everyone in the Order can cast at least an incorporeal one, and the ones who can cast corporeal ones often use them to send messages to each other. Plus, you need to be able to do it yourself in case of a dementor or lethifold attack when you're alone."

Adela objected, "I made the highest marks of the group in Defense Against the Dark Arts class not even six months ago. How can Dumbledore possibly think I've forgotten all of that in so short a time?"

James said in a soothing voice, "The point isn't whether or not you know the spells or are capable of performing them. Dumbledore's merely concerned with what your kneejerk reactions will be in battle. The last thing the Order needs is someone fighting every bit as dirty as the Death Eaters."

Adela huffed angrily. "Fine," she assented. "What do we start with?"

"The Patronus Charm, definitely," Sirius declared. "It'll be one of the most important spells in your arsenal once you manage it. Think you're ready to try it right now?"

Adela shrugged. "Might as well; I've got nothing better to do."

Sirius stood, offering her his hand. Adela accepted it, and he led her into the sitting room. "All right. The first thing you need to do is keep in mind that this is an incredibly difficult spell. The vast majority of witches and wizards can't even create an incorporeal patronus, so if you struggle with this spell, don't worry. We'll keep working at this as long as it takes." Adela nodded, now sitting on the couch while Sirius paced the floor in front of her. James chuckled in the background and shook his head at his best friend before slipping away to his bedroom. "Think of a memory," Sirius resumed. "It's got to be the absolute happiest you ever felt. Think hard."

Adela frowned. She pondered over that. Adela wasn't sure if she had any happy memories. Then she stumbled upon it. Her first Order meeting after the battle with the Death Eaters in Hogsmeade, everyone had patted her on the back and hugged her and congratulated her. She had finally felt accepted, like she belonged. She even felt wanted. The memory of it made her heart swell. "Ok," Adela said, nodding.

Sirius smiled at her, then explained. "Move your wand in small circles, then say Expecto Patronum. After that, we'll see if you produce a patronus or not." Adela nodded and did as he asked. A faint glimmer of a misty white light flickered forth from the end of her wand, then quickly dissipated. Adela scowled. Sirius sat on the coffee table across from her and took hold of her hands. "It's ok, Adela. Nobody gets it on the first try. You just have to keep trying."

The pair continued working on the charm well into the early hours of the morning. By 3a.m., Adela had only managed at best a shield patronus the size of an apple. Adela walked back to the bedroom with Sirius and collapsed on the bed, discouraged. Sirius sat down beside her and carefully brushed a few stray strands of hair out of Adela's eyes. "Don't be frustrated. You're making progress. You'll get the hang of this."

Adela looked up at Sirius as he gazed down at her, their eyes meeting. "Maybe I've done too many dark spells to be able to cast one so pure," she wondered aloud.

Sirius shook his head with a smile. "Don't be silly. We've all got light and dark inside of us. All that matters is the part we choose to act on. You're trying to make good; that's what matters." Adela smiled at him halfheartedly. "You've got dueling practice tomorrow. Fabian Prewett has volunteered to be your first victim," Sirius teased with a wink.

Adela laughed, rolling on to her side to face Sirius as he flung himself down on the bed beside her. "Fabian is a glutton for punishment," she pronounced with a chuckle.

Sirius laughed hard. "You should be careful. Try not to hurt him too much, or his pride for that matter."

Adela met Sirius's gaze, and suddenly she felt mesmerized by his striking gray eyes. She forced herself to blink several times and pushed the sudden onslaught of nerves that assaulted her. "I don't think I have anything to worry about as far as Fabian's pride goes."

Sirius shook his head. "Fabian's going to be trying to show off though. Really, try not to beat him too badly. I think he likes you. He flirts with you constantly."

Adela raised her eyebrows at her. "As if you don't? Does that mean you're interested in me too?"

Sirius gently pushed his fist against Adela's shoulder. "All right, fair enough. I'm just saying, be careful."

Adela smiled at the dark haired man beside her. "Fine, I'll try not to hurt him," she said cheerily.

* * *

The next day, Adela walked with Sirius onto the Quidditch pitch at Hogwarts, where Fabian and Gideon Prewett waited. It was a Hogsmeade weekend for the students, so the grounds of the castle were practically deserted. As soon as he saw Adela, Fabian's face lit up. He ran over to her and picked her up and hugged her tightly, spinning her around. "Darling Adela! How my heart has yearned for you the past few weeks," Fabian declared with his usual jovial wit.

Adela giggled as Fabian finally set her back down on the ground. "Yes, well, that's what happens when you take so much time away from the Order to babysit your nephews while Molly and Arthur go on vacation. How old are those little babies of hers now?"

"Ah, you mean Fred and George, adorable little buggers. I believe they're seven months old. Those two are going to give Molly and Arthur hell growing up, I can feel it." Adela and Fabian laughed together while Gideon smiled, watching them, and Sirius frowned. "So," Fabian said, getting to the point. "I suppose it's time for us to duel, yes?"

Adela nodded. "I suppose so," she said with a grin. The two moved to stand roughly fifty feet apart.

"I'll try to go easy on you," Fabian said with a mischievous gleam in his eye.

Adela smirked. "Where's the fun in that? Besides, what Death Eater is going to be going easy on me in a duel? I've certainly never met one that would."

Fabian grinned. "Very well then, I suppose I'll just —" he suddenly shot a silent Stunning Spell flying at her. Adela blocked it just in time. "Fight dirty then," he finished, laughing.

Sirius said sullenly, "You two need to pretend that Fabian's Stunning Spells are Killing Curses. Don't block them with Shield Charms. Block them with inanimate objects or dodge them. Death Eaters don't usually bother with Stunning Spells."

Gideon nodded. "Sirius is right about that," he said, shooting a look at Fabian that Adela couldn't interpret. Fabian seemed to understand the message though.

Adela nodded. "I'm ready whenever you are, Fabian." Fabian shrugged his shoulders, then attacked with a Stunning Spell. Adela jumped to the side and dodged, throwing her own spell back at him. "Alarte Ascendare," she said forcefully. The spell hit Fabian in the gut, throwing him high up in the air.

Sirius saw Fabian starting to come back down, and shouted, "Aresto Momentum." The spell slowed down Fabian's descent to a reasonable speed so that he could land on his feet. Sirius walked over to Adela as Fabian's feet touched earth again. "Try not to kill him," he whispered in her ear.

The sensation of Sirius's breath on her neck made Adela shudder. She nodded quickly, and raised her wand, ready for Fabian's next assault. The two went back and forth for several hours, until well after dark. Finally, Gideon announced, "I think it's time we headed down to Hogsmeade for some food and a few drinks, how about it?"

Adela smiled. "Sounds fantastic," she declared. She turned to Sirius. "Are you going to come with us?" she asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Sure, I guess." Adela cast finite incantatem in Fabian's general direction as Sirius threw his arm around her shoulder and pointed her feet in the direction of the village. The flock of paper birds Adela had conjured that were chasing Fabian around the pitch suddenly floated toward the ground and disintegrated before they hit the ground. Sirius whispered into her ear, "You did really well today, but I think you held back too much."

Adela whispered back as Gideon and Fabian caught up with the pair, "I thought you told me to take it easy on him."

"There's a difference between taking it easy and barely even trying," Sirius murmured.

Adela looked at Sirius suddenly. "Why, Black," Adela said, a mischievous gleam in her eyes. "I do believe you're jealous." Sirius shook his head, clearly agitated. Adela elbowed him in the ribs, suddenly Sirius. "Hey, for real, are you ok?"

Sirius suddenly stopped in the middle of the road, and pulled Adela to a stop with him. "Adela, this is more complicated than that."

Adela demanded, "Ok, then explain it to me."

Sirius shook his head. "Not right now."

"Sirius —" Adela started.

"No," Sirius said firmly. "Neither of us are ready for this conversation right now, and I'm definitely not ready for any of the possible consequences of it. So just forget it."

Sirius moved to walk away towards the Three Broomsticks, but Adela grabbed his arm and stopped him. He turned back to her slowly, taking a slow, deep breath, his face bordering on livid. "Sirius, talk to me," Adela pleaded.

Sirius pulled her closer and said in a quiet, angry voice, "You're still wearing his ring, Adela. I've never seen you take it off, not even once. I won't even consider having this conversation until you're ready to admit to yourself and everyone else that you're not going to be marrying my brother." Sirius yanked his arm out of her grasp and stormed off, then disapparated a few feet away."

Adela stood in the middle of the road; Fabian and Gideon approached her slowly. "Adela?" Fabian prodded carefully. "Are you ok?"

Adela wiped away the angry tears that had built up in her eyes. "I'm fine," she mumbled.

Fabian shook his head and pulled the small, brown-haired girl against his chest. He felt Adela trembling, but she didn't seem to be crying. He smoothed her hair gently and pressed his lips to the top of her head. "I'm sorry," he crooned. "I hope it wasn't something I did."

Adela shook her head. "No, I don't think that was about you."

Gideon gently pulled her out of his brother's embrace. "Come on, let's go get that food." Adela nodded, and the three of them continued on their way to the Three Broomsticks.

* * *

Adela slipped into the flat as quietly as possible, slightly drunk. She and the Prewett brothers had drank quite a bit firewhiskey while they ate at the Three Broomsticks that night. They had offered to let her stay at their place until things between her and Sirius flared back down. Adela had turned their offer down, though, preferring to go ahead and face Sirius. She turned around from the door and found Sirius sitting on the couch, head in his hands, a half empty bottle of firewhiskey on the coffee table. "Hey," she said softly.

Sirius looked up at her, his eyes red. "LeStrange," he mumbled.

James walked into the room from the hallway just then. Spotting Adela, he quickly crossed the room to her and gently grasped her arm, pulling her as fast as he could across the room and down the hall. A couple of times, Adela tripped over her own two feet. "James," Adela snarled. "What are you doing?"

James pulled her into his bedroom and easily pushed her in the direction of the bed. "Sirius is extremely upset right now, and you know the Black family temper better than I do. Not to mention that touch of the Black family's madness. Both tend to come out when he's drunk. Just steer clear of him for the night, ok? You can try to talk to him in the morning."

Adela folded her arms over chest and sat down on the bed. "Fine. So, what, I'm just going to sleep in here tonight? What about you?"

James shrugged. "I'll take the couch; it'll be fine." Suddenly, the sound of a crash and breaking glass rang through the flat. Adela jumped, startled, and James sighed, sounding frustrated. "Probably threw the bottle against the wall again," James conjectured. "Stupid git."

Adela hesitated, then asked timidly, "James? What's wrong with him? I mean, what did I do?"

James observed her for a moment, then shook his head. "Nothing. You didn't do anything. He's doing this to himself. But he's right too. Are you still planning on marrying Regulus Black next summer?"

Adela shuddered, thinking seriously about her fiancé for the first time in weeks. After a few silent moments, she shook her head. "No," she said definitively.

"Then that ring doesn't mean anything anymore," James said in a soft voice. "So why keep wearing it?" Adela twisted the ring on her finger slowly, anxiety suddenly filling her. She hadn't taken the ring off for more than a minute in the year since it'd been given to her. It represented not just her engagement, but her entire past with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. She hadn't realized she'd started shaking until James sat down beside her and put his arms around her shoulders to steady her. He said tenderly, "It's just a ring, Adela. You've already left that world and those people behind." She nodded slowly, but still made no move to pull the ring off. "It's just a ring," he repeated. Adela nodded again, more decidedly this time, and finally tugged off the ring and held it in the palm of her hand. James rubbed her shoulder, then stood up. "Good job," he said. "I'll bring over whatever you need for the night from Sirius's room." James walked out the door just as there was a loud thump from the sitting room. James shook his head as he walked out the door and yelled, "Padfoot! I will kick your ass if you break one more thing in this flat tonight!"


	6. Chapter 6

To my anonymous guest reviewer, I enjoyed the wedding very much! It actually gave me a few ideas for a possible future James and Lily wedding in future chapters. Also, for a little while it will almost appear as though Sirius and Adela won't be falling in love after all, but don't worry! Things will fall into place soon enough for them. After all, falling in love with the right person the first time is a rare thing in the real world, why should it be any different in fiction? To all my readers, thanks for all the love, and I'd love to hear from you in the reviews too! :)

* * *

 **October 1978**

The next morning, Adela awoke to the sound of tapping on the window. She opened her eyes slowly and noticed a small owl tapping at the window of James's bedroom. She sighed, sitting up slowly, then moved over and opened the window to let the owl in. Adela recognized the owl as one belonging to the Prewett brothers. After she opened the window, the brown and white owl hopped in to sit on the window sill and stuck its little leg out, offering her the note attached to it. Adela pulled the note from its leg and summoned a small pouch of owl treats with her wand. She fed the owl a couple treats as it stared at her. After it had eaten, the owl nudged at her fingers with its beak, apparently having been instructed to wait for her response. She opened the piece of parchment and read a note from Fabian asking her to take a trip to Diagon Alley with him that afternoon.

Adela paused, then headed for the kitchen. She stopped suddenly when she found a hung over Sirius and a very tired-looking James. James glanced between his roommates as Sirius glared at Adela. "I think I'll just be leaving you two alone," James muttered before quickly retreating to his now vacant bedroom.

Adela crossed her arms over her chest, suddenly feeling quite small. "Hi, Sirius," Adela said quietly.

"What do you want, LeStrange?" Sirius snapped.

Adela visibly flinched at the bite in his voice. "I just wanted to know if you were ok," she said softly. Adela had never felt so weak and vulnerable before.

Sirius chuckled darkly. "No, I'm not ok. I'm angry. I'm furious. How can you flirt with every guy in the Order that flirts with you like a single woman, while all the time you're engaged to my bloody prick of a brother? You don't even bother taking off his ring."

Adela marched over to stand beside Sirius and showed him where the ring had once been. "I took it off last night, Sirius," she announced proudly. "I'm never putting it back on. I'll never marry Regulus. He's cruel and heartless and shows almost as much of that Black madness as Bellatrix."

Sirius's face changed drastically. He went from angry and heartless to a wide, joyous grin in a matter of seconds. "Well, I'm so glad to hear that!"

Adela smiled, feeling like she might have finally won Sirius over again. "Oh, good. Because I wanted to ask you about something."

Sirius took her by the hand and guided her into the chair beside her. "What would that be, Adela?"

Adela hesitated, then showed him the note from Fabian. When he had finished reading it, she told him, "I was thinking about going with him. I was wondering if you think I should."

Sirius sighed and looked exhausted in that moment. He rubbed his face with his hands. "I don't know," he said in frustration. "Do you want to go?" He demanded to know.

Adela jumped slightly at the irate tone of his voice. "Um, I think so. I mean, do you think there's a reason I shouldn't go?"

Sirius stood up, throwing the note down on the table. "Then go with him. What are you asking me for?"

Adela said quietly, "Because I value your opinion."

"Well, here's my opinion," Sirius snapped. "Fabian Prewett is a good man. He'll do his best to make you happy and keep you safe. So if you want to go with him, then go, but don't except to share a bed with me tonight. That's one thing I won't do, is sleep in the same bed with another man's witch. Besides, it's about time you found a place of your own. You can sleep on the couch until you do, or maybe you should just go stay with Prewett."

Adela muttered, "Fine, Sirius. I'll see you later I guess." She stood and ran to send the owl back to Fabian with a positive answer, then went into Sirius's bedroom to start gathering her things.

* * *

Fabian walked alongside Adela through Diagon Alley. They had just left Magical Menagerie, where Adela had purchased a beautiful Egyptian Mau cat. The cat silently rode along in the cage that the store worker had placed it in as Fabian carried it for her. With his free hand, Fabian took Adela's hand in his, entwining their fingers as they walked into Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor. The second the two walked in, Adela jumped nearly out of her skin with a small squeak and tried to turn around and run away, accidentally bumping into Fabian. He released her hand and wrapped his arm around her shoulders, holding her close to him. He whispered in her ear, "What's wrong, dear?"

Adela tried to pull out of his arms as she breathed out, "Rodolphus."

"Hello, Adela. What a surprise to see you here, and with him, of all people. I suppose if you're going to be a blood traitor, you ought to be a cheater on top of it as well."

Rodolphus's voice sent hard shivers down Adela's spine, and Fabian felt them as she quaked in his arms. "Why don't you leave her alone, LeStrange? Haven't you put her through enough?" Fabian retorted.

Rodolphus smirked. "What's the matter, Adela? Surely your big brother hasn't hurt you in any way, has he?" He gently stroked her cheek as she slowly turned around to face him, the action making her tremble in fear. "Why, I've only ever tried to help you. I just want you to be safe and home with your family after all, which is where you belong, not with these blood traitor rabble-rousers that you've been running around with."

Adela said quietly, "I'll never come back, Rodolphus. I'm not marrying Regulus." She showed him her now ring-free hand. "I won't do what you ask me to do anymore, Rodolphus. I can't live like that. It's cruel, what you and the others do. I can't do that stuff anymore. Please, Rodolphus, I want you to understand. Just let me live my life, please. I love you and Rabastan, that's all I ask of you two. Just show me some love, and leave me alone."

Fabian tightened his hold on Adela as Rodolphus took a couple steps closer, sneering, as he felt her shaking in terror. "LeStrange, you'd better just take a few steps back and away from her," Fabian said in a low, threatening voice.

Rodolphus chuckled sinisterly, but still sensibly took three steps backwards. "I'll see you at home soon, Adela," Rodolphus said with far too much certainty.

"Come on," Fabian murmured, his breath tickling Adela's neck. He gently guided her around her brother, not noticing the older man slip his wand out of his pocket and point it at Adela, cursing her with a soft, barely audible whisper. Nothing visibly happened, but the curse took root deep in her mind.

* * *

It was nearly 1a.m., and Adela lay sleeping in Fabian's bed. He smiled as he watched her sleep as he got ready to get in bed himself. Their date that day had gone extremely well, with the exception of their encounter with her brother. The new cat, who Adela had named Babette, was curled up at the girl's feet on the bed. Since Sirius had decided that she shouldn't stay with him and James anymore, Fabian and Gideon had graciously agreed to let her stay with them until she found a place of her own, or permanently if things continued to go well between her and Fabian.

Fabian sat down beside her on the bed, wearing only a pair of navy blue plaid pajama pants. He gently brushed her hair with his hand, beaming down at her. Abruptly, her peaceful sleep was disrupted. She began tossing and turning, then started moaning softly in her sleep. Adela bolted upright, awake. Fabian frowned as she stared off into space, breathing heavily and sweating. He tenderly pushed her hair away from her face. "Adela, what's wrong? Are you ok?"

Adela suddenly heard a voice in her head, an eerily familiar voice. She repeated its words aloud as she slowly picked up her wand from where it rested on the bedside table. "Kill the Order of the Phoenix. Kill Dumbledore and as many of the others as I can before killing myself."

Fabian stared at her in shock, not quite believing what he was hearing till she raised her wand at him. He quickly ducked down as a flash of green light passed mere centimeters from his head. "Adela, what the hell are you doing?" he shouted. "Gideon, get in here, quick!"

Fabian grabbed his wand from on top of the dresser. Adela grabbed her hair in her fists and shook her head, mumbling something unintelligible. When what she was saying became more audible, Fabian heard her saying, "No, no, no, I can't do this. Don't make me do this. Get out my head." Tears were building up in her round hazel eyes. She rapidly raised her wand again at Fabian and said, her voice hitching, "Avada Kedavra." Nothing happened though. There was no flash of green light.

Gideon flung open the door, his wand raised. "What's going on?" Gideon demanded.

Adela switched her aim to Gideon and tried the Unforgiveable Curse again, and this time the spell worked. Gideon jumped aside at the last possible second. "Expelliarmus," Fabian yelled, and Adela's wand flew out of her hand. Gideon caught it easily. "I'm sorry, Gideon," Fabian said. Adela let out a shriek, sounding as though she were in pain, then grabbed the sheets in her hands, clearly trying to stay in place, as though some outside force was trying to control her. "I don't know what's wrong with her," he continued, his voice desperate.

Out of nowhere, Adela jumped off the bed and tried to run past Gideon through the door, but the red-haired man easily stopped her and pushed her back into the room. "Adela," Gideon said, addressing her. "We need you to talk to us, because we know this behavior isn't like you. What is happening to you?"

Tears streamed down Adela's cheeks. Fabian couldn't resist; he sat down on the bed with her and pulled her to him in a tight embrace. He only managed to hold her like that for a moment though. Adela grabbed his wand from his hand and turned it against him, but once again the curse faltered. Gideon cast a Disarming Spell and found himself in possession of all three wands. Adela screamed and pressed her hands against her ears. She whispered to Fabian, "Rodolphus's voice…" She trailed off before she began screaming again and rocking back and forth on the bed in his arms.

Fabian looked up at his brother, tears building in his own eyes now. "What's wrong with her?" he begged to know.

Gideon shook his head. "I don't know."

Adela jerked and started clawing at Fabian's arms, trying to break free of his grasp and steal back her wand. Fabian held her even more tightly and tried to calm her, breathing soothingly to her, "Everything's going to be ok, Adela; I promise. Please, try to stay calm. Everything will be ok."

Out of nowhere, Adela turned and tried to grab Fabian's throat, attempting to choke him. Fabian easily took her wrists in his hands and held her away from his neck. Adela sobbed, "I'm sorry, Fabian, I'm so sorry," all the while her arms still fighting against his grip. She shrieked in frustration. "Rodolphus…" she began again.

"Rodolphus LeStrange?" Gideon questioned.

Fabian brushed unshed tears from his eyes. "We ran into him at Florean Fortescue's earlier today." Fabian paused. "You don't think he could have sneaked around and cursed her while we weren't paying attention?"

Adela murmured, "His voice says to kill you both. Kill all members of the Order and especially Dumbledore, then I have to kill myself. I have to…" Adela leaned her head against Fabian's chest and whimpered.

Gideon said quietly, "Fabian, I think he put her under the Imperius Curse and just didn't use it until now. I guess he thought if he waited till now, he'd be catching us all asleep, and it'd be easy to kill us."

Fabian fought off another attempt by Adela to choke him, both of them crying. "What do we do?" Fabian asked Adela lovingly but sadly.

Adela shook her head violently. Gideon sighed. "Come on; we'll take her to see Professor Dumbledore," he said to his brother.

"No," Fabian firmly rejected. "Dumbledore is the main person LeStrange is trying to make Adela kill. That'll make just make it worse. What about Sirius Black? He'd know plenty about Unforgiveable Curses. He was put under enough of them growing up."

Gideon nodded. "Fine. Come on." Gideon grabbed Adela by the upper arms while Fabian continued to hold her by the wrists, then the three of them disapparated.

* * *

Adela thrashed against the brothers' grips while Gideon pounded on the door of Sirius and James's flat. Finally, Sirius opened the door, a freshly opened bottle of firewhiskey in his hand. One of Adela's hands broke free from Fabian's grip and snatched her wand out of Gideon's hand and threw a Killing Curse at Sirius's head. Sirius ducked, and the spell hit the armchair, which caught fire. Sirius disarmed Adela hastily, then put the flames out. "What the bloody hell is going on here?" Sirius demanded.

Adela let out a high pitched shriek as the Prewetts dragged her through the front door of the flat into the sitting room. She kicked at Sirius and tore at Fabian's hands, trying to break free again. Fabian said hurriedly, "Rodolphus LeStrange put her under the Imperius Curse but only just now activated it. We need help breaking it."

Sirius crossed the room over to her as Fabian and Gideon forced her down. Fabian sat down on the couch and pulled her onto his lap, and Gideon helped hold her down. Sirius shoved Gideon out from in front of the petite witch and knelt down in front of her, his wand across his knee. He lightly took her chin in his hand, forcing her to look into his eyes. Adela began thrashing around again once he let her go and begged, "Make it stop; make it stop; make it stop."

Sirius raised a questioning eyebrow at Fabian. Fabian answered, "She keeps muttering about a voice in her head telling her to kill us."

Adela squealed, and James came running down the hall with his wand out. "What the hell —"

Sirius waved him away. "Adela's under the Imperius Curse. She's trying to kill us. Just get back in your room and keep your wand away from her. All we can do for her is keep her from getting a hold of another wand."

James nodded and walked back down the hall and disappeared. Fabian yelled, "What do you mean that's all we can do for her? Surely we can do something! What if we put her under a stronger Imperius Curse?"

Sirius shook his head. "That won't make the other curse go away. It'll just make her worse, and it could potentially drive her insane, literally. The only one who can break this curse over her is Adela herself." Sirius placed his hands on Adela's knees, the thin purple fabric of her pajama pants not hiding the way her entire body trembled. His gray eyes stared deep into her eyes. "Did you hear what I just said, Adela? You are the only one who can break the Imperius Curse over you. You're the only one who can make it stop. You're the only one who can make the voice go away."

Adela shook her head as hard as she could. "I can't," she said with a pathetic groan.

Sirius thought for a few moments as Fabian pressed his lips against her neck, fighting back his own tears as he watched the girl struggle. "Let her go," Sirius instructed.

"What? Are you nuts, Black? She'll kill us all," Gideon shouted.

"Shut up, Prewett," Sirius snapped. "Just make sure you hold on to those wands. She won't kill us. Adela, you hear me? Listen to me; forget whatever voices are bouncing around your head right now. Just listen to the sound of my voice, ok?" Adela whimpered, then nodded. "You can do this, Adela. You can beat this. You don't have to do this; you can resist." Sirius nodded to Fabian. "Now let her go. She won't be able to break the curse unless she's faced with the option to disobey the spell."

Fabian nodded and let go of the girl. Immediately, Adela darted away from the men and ran into the kitchen. She grabbed her hair at first and stood there for a few moments, tears streaming down her face. Sirius slowly approached her, his hands in the air. She watched him, and when their eyes met, her tears flowed faster. "I have to kill you," she croaked, her voice hoarse from screaming. She picked up a paring knife from where it stood in the knife block on the counter and threw it at Sirius. He blocked it with his wand easily. It hit his shield spell and fell to the ground with a clatter. Sirius took a couple more steps toward her, while Gideon shook his head and Fabian buried his face in his hands. "If I succeed, I have to kill myself," she moaned. "If I fail, I have to kill myself." She picked up the large chef's knife, twisting the knife around so that the point was toward herself. Her breathing quickened, and she was visibly, violently shaking. "I can't kill any of you," Adela said decidedly.

Sirius saw her hand pull the knife back, getting ready to drive it into her stomach. "No!" Fabian shouted, jumping to his feet. Gideon's eyes grew wide as Sirius knocked the knife from her hand with a disarming spell. The knife flew from her hand and knocked against the far wall and fell to the floor.

Adela sank to her hands and knees, her breathing so fast she could start hyperventilating at any second. "No, no, no, no, no," she muttered under her breath at her brother's voice in her head. "Let me go; make it stop."

Sirius knelt down beside her, careful to be sure she couldn't steal his wand. "Adela," he said soothingly. "Rodolphus will never make it stop. He's always going to try to hurt you. You're the only one who can make it stop."

Adela shook her head, slowly reaching for the abandoned knife on the hardwood floor and wrapping her hand around it. "The only way it will stop is if I kill you." She swiftly moved the knife and brought it across her body, aimed at Sirius's chest. He grabbed her wrist in his hand, feeling her fight against him. Tears began to fall from her eyes again. "Please, help me," she pleaded.

"Help yourself," Sirius commanded. "Repeat after me: I will not kill anyone."

Adela whined like a kicked puppy, shaking her head. "Rodolphus, please," she whimpered.

Sirius shook her arm. "Adela, shush. Listen to me. Do you hear me?" Adela nodded, her arm still trying in vain to bring the knife down into his bare muscular chest. "You can do this. Repeat after me, right now. I will not kill anyone."

Adela shook her head, but said anyway, "I will not kill anyone."

She shifted her grip on the knife to around the blade, the sharp metal digging deeply into the palm of her hand. Sirius shushed her shrieks of pain. "Adela, listen to me. Are you listening to me?" She nodded. "Ok, just keep repeating to yourself that you won't hurt anyone. Understand?"

Adela nodded. "I won't hurt anyone. I won't hurt anyone. I won't hurt anyone." Sirius and Adela sat like that, Adela repeating those words to herself over and over, all the while switching back and forth between trying to stab Sirius and trying to stab herself, for a solid fifteen minutes. Suddenly, Adela stopped talking, worrying the three men. She was shaking violently, then she opened her hand and let the knife clank to the floor. Adela cried and threw her arms around Sirius's neck in a big hug. "His voice," she said, her voice shaky. "Rodolphus's voice, it's gone. I think I'm free."

Sirius dropped his wand and hugged her back, squeezing her as tight as he could. "I knew you could do it," he said tenderly.

Fabian rushed around the wall and practically dived to the floor beside them, stealing Adela out of Sirius's arms and pulling her to his chest. "Oh, Adela, I was so worried," Fabian murmured against her head.

Adela sobbed against his chest, the blood from her hand smearing on his shirtless chest. "I can't live like this anymore," Adela cried. Gideon came around the corner and leaned against the wall. "It hurts; it all hurts. Maybe I should've let Rodolphus make me kill myself."

Fabian quietly shushed her, gently rocking her back and forth in his arms. "Hey! Don't you ever say anything like that again," Sirius ordered her. "Don't even think it. I know this has been a really rough few months for you, but don't you dare think like that." Adela continued to cry on Fabian's chest. "Hey!" Sirius grabbed her face and forced her to look him in the eyes. "Are you listening to me, damn it? You're going to live, and you're going to be happy, because we're going to do everything we can to make you happy, you got that?"

Fabian snapped at Sirius, "Watch it, Black. Try to show some sympathy after what she just went through."

Adela shook her head. "Sirius is right, Fabian. It's over now. I've got to suck it up."

Sirius took a light hold of Adela's injured hand and waved his wand over it, healing the gash. Adela nodded her thanks, then wiped tears away from her eyes. Sirius offered her a small smile. "You're going to be just fine, sweetheart. Ok? You're strong and cunning and smart, and you'll make it through this because you aren't going through this alone. You've got us to help you out, remember?"

Adela smiled back a small smile, then nodded. Fabian squeezed her shoulders. "Come on, I think it's time we went home," Fabian declared.

The Prewetts and Adela headed for the door. Sirius walked along behind them. Out of the blue, Adela stopped and turned around, throwing her arms around Sirius again. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear, then gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I couldn't have done it without you."

Sirius nodded quickly. Adela thought for a moment that she might have seen tears building in his eyes, but before she could be sure, Fabian had taken hold of her hand and was pulling her towards the door for a side-along disapparition. Adela looked back at Sirius from the doorway, a twinge of longing pulling at her heart, then disapparated.


	7. Chapter 7

**December 1978**

Adela smiled as Sirius used his wand to levitate her before handing her the star to place on top of the Christmas tree. James and Lily laughed with each other in the kitchen as they stole kisses when they thought no one was looking before placing unbaked cookies in the oven. Fabian and Gideon sat on the couch of the living room of their small house in Northampton, England, drinking firewhiskey and laughing uproariously at some inside joke. Christmas music drifted through the air from the radio. Sirius floated Adela down to the ground, wrapping his arms around her when her feet touched the ground again, standing behind her. Arthur and Molly Weasley emerged from the stairwell, as they had just put their five little boys to bed upstairs.

Sirius whispered in Adela's ear, his breath hot on her neck, "This is your first Christmas since you've left your family. Are you doing all right?"

Adela turned her face towards him and placed her hands on his where they rested on her waist. The pair slowly swayed to the Yuletide carols. Adela nodded her head slowly. "I'm fine… I think. It's just odd, that's all. I'm so used to spending it with my brothers and Regulus." Adela paused to think for a moment. "I think I like this much better."

Sirius smiled, then spun her around to face him, now dancing with her across the living room. The fireplace crackled behind them as Sirius dipped her low. She stared into those enthralling gray eyes, and her breath hitched in her throat. Sirius seemed to sense the quickening of her heartbeat and winked at her before slowly pulling her back up and drawing her flush against his chest. "Good," Sirius said, a slight flirtatious tinge to his voice.

Fabian suddenly took notice of the man holding his girlfriend so intimately and frowned. Gideon took notice of the look on his twin brother's face and nudged him. Fabian shook his head, then called out, "Oh, Adela, my darling, how's the Christmas tree coming along?"

The sound of her boyfriend's voice broke the spell that Sirius's eyes seemed to have over Adela. She took a couple steps back from the auror in training and replied, "It'll be beautiful before too long. Almost all of the decorations you guys brought out are up."

Fabian grinned at Adela and patted his lap, inviting her to sit down. She accepted the invitation cheerily and bounced over to him. Fabian squeezed her in a tight hug as Sirius's face fell ever so slightly. "Sounds wonderful, dearie," Fabian said, kissing her on the cheek. Adela giggled at the display of affection. James and Lily joined the others in the living room as the smell of baking cookies filled the house. James sat down in an armchair and pulled Lily onto his lap. Fabian suggested, "Adela, it's been a while since I've seen you try the patronus charm. Show us how much progress you've been making lately."

Adela shook her head. "No, I couldn't possibly. Not in front of everybody…"

"Oh come on, please?" Sirius cajoled. "It's been over a month since the last time James or I saw your patronus charm. We want to know how much progress our best student is making."

Adela laughed. "I was your only student, Sirius."

James teased, "Oh come on, LeStrange. Please?" James and Sirius both offered their best puppy dog eyes to the young witch, making her snicker.

"All right, all right," Adela exclaimed, caving in to the demands of the room. She let her mind drift through her recent memories as she made circles with her wand. It suddenly settled on Sirius's face smiling down at her not a few minutes ago as he danced through the living room with her. "Expecto Patronum," she said softly.

A large white shield floated from the end of her wand, easily the same size as Adela. She squealed in delight as her friends gasped and shouted congratulations. Molly shushed them all, saying, "Be quiet, all of you! You'll wake the kids, and Fred and George are impossible to get to go back to sleep."

Fabian clutched Adela to him as the shield dissipated. "Fantastic, Adela. You're getting so much closer! I'm so proud of you."

Fabian gave Adela a quick peck on the lips. Adela blushed furiously and answered, "Thanks."

Lily said, "You're really coming along nicely with that spell. Your dueling skills have improved a lot since you've joined us too. I think Dumbledore might be more willing to send you out on missions with the rest of us pretty soon."

Adela asked, "Do you really think so?"

Gideon exclaimed, "Of course, Adela. You're a very talented witch. Dumbledore would be a fool to not make more use of you."

Adela watched Sirius as he sat with his elbows resting on his knees on top of the coffee table. "What do you think, Sirius?" she said quietly.

Sirius placed his chin in his hands and looked at her with a roguish grin that Adela thought didn't quite reach the man's eyes. "Why, you're an absolute prize, sweetheart," Sirius said in a coy manner. "Any man who didn't want to make use of you in one way or another is a damn fool."

Adela giggled at the insinuation. Lily gave her boyfriend's best friend a disapproving look, and Molly scolded, "Oh really now, Sirius; manners, please."

Fabian tightened his hold on Adela, making her arms start hurting from the pressure. She made a soft whimpering sound and tugged lightly at her boyfriend's arms. Fabian quickly realized his mistake and loosened his hold on her. "Black, I really don't appreciate the implications about my girlfriend," Fabian said, an edge to his voice.

Sirius held up his hands as Lily stood and went to retrieve the chocolate chip cookies from the oven. "All right, all right," Sirius surrendered. "Maybe I've had too much to drink. I think I'll just head upstairs and lay down where I can't say anything to offend anyone until I've either slept it off or it's time to head home."

Sirius stood up and walked in the direction of the stairs. Lily stopped him and handed him a cookie, which he gratefully accepted before disappearing up the stairs. The good natured joking and drinking began again among the group. Adela whispered to Fabian, "Wasn't that a little harsh? He was just joking around, that's just the way he is."

Adela felt Fabian's muscles tighten underneath her body. He whispered back, his breath tickling her ear and his lips brushing against her skin, "I've seen the way he looks at you, the way he flirts with you shamelessly. I don't like it one bit."

Adela furrowed her brow and muttered back, "Sirius doesn't mean anything by it. It's just his personality."

Fabian murmured, "I've known Black longer and better than you have. It's his personality, all right, but that doesn't make it ok for him to flirt with you so openly when you're my girl."

Adela frowned. "Sirius knows we're together and would never do anything to mess that up," Adela hissed. "And I'll have you know, Fabian, that I absolutely hate it when you talk about me like you own me like that. I've had enough of that being treated like property crap from others in the past; I don't need it from you too."

Fabian sighed loudly, attracting the attention of the others in the room. "That's not fair. You know I didn't mean it like that," he mumbled.

Adela disentangled herself from Fabian's arms and stood up. "I'm pretty tired," she declared to the group. "I think I'm going to go to bed; I'll see all of you tomorrow." Adela narrowed her eyes at Fabian, then quickly ran from the room and up the stairs. She darted to the first door on the right and entered the room, quickly shutting the door behind her and leaning against it before sliding down to sit on the floor.

"Adela? What are you doing here?" Sirius's voice queried from the bed.

Adela jumped, startled. "Oh, hey, Sirius," she sighed. "Why are you in my bedroom? I mean, Fabian's bedroom too… Oh, you know what I mean."

Sirius smirked at her from where he laid on the burgundy bedding. "Did you follow me up here?" he said, tantalizing her.

Adela shook her head. "You know, you made Fabian really angry by saying that."

Sirius sat up on the bed. "You really mean that Prewett is getting jealous."

"I don't know if that's what I'd call it," Adela protested.

"I'd definitely call it that," Sirius stated surely.

Adela stood up. "Fabian has nothing to be jealous of," she declared. "You flirt with tons of girls, not just me. But you're flirting with me is making him start saying things that I don't like. Things that bring back bad memories. So both of you just need to stop."

Sirius swung his legs over the edge of the bed, suddenly looking very serious. "I'm sorry, Adela. I'll back off. I don't want to cause problems for you."

Adela nodded. "Thank you."

Sirius stood up slowly and sauntered over to her, tenderly placing his hands on her shoulders. "You're welcome," he breathed. She looked up into his swirling gray eyes, and her entire body trembled under his touch. Sirius seemed to hesitate, but he seemed to make up his mind in that instant. He bent down and kissed her lips, filling Adela's mind with a fiery haze. She responded to his lips slowly, her mind working in slow motion. He pushed her back against the door and pressed his body hard against hers. Adela tangled her fingers in his wavy black hair and attempted to pull herself even closer to the man. Sirius broke the kiss, making Adela whine softly. Her entire body felt as though it were on fire. "You've no idea how long I've wanted to do that," Sirius whispered.

Adela nodded, her chest heaving against his as she breathed hard. She suddenly let go of Sirius's hair and unwrapped her arms from around his neck as her mental capacities slowly returned to her. "I can't do this, Sirius," she said, barely making a sound. Adela couldn't look him in the eye as she continued. "I'm dating Fabian."

Sirius rested his hand on her cheek and gently brought her head to his face, lightly planting a kiss on the top of her head. "I understand," Sirius muttered. "I just wanted you to know. I'll just stay your friend then."

Adela covered his hand on her face with her own much smaller hand. "Thank you, Sirius."

There was a knock at the door. "Adela?" Fabian's voice carried through the door. "Are you in there?"

Sirius smirked at the position in which he had placed Adela. Though unintentional, Adela could tell that Sirius found the situation quite amusing. Adela replied easily to Fabian, "Yes, I'm in here," as Sirius ran his hands slowly over her body, staying on the outside of her clothes. Adela made no moves to stop Sirius, instead locking the door with a wave of her wand.

Adela heard Fabian sigh. "Everyone's gone home, dear. Arthur, Molly, and Gideon have all gone to bed. James couldn't find that git Black anywhere, so he left with Lily and said Black would have to fend for himself." Adela suppressed a gasp when Sirius abruptly began kissing her neck. At that point, she finally pushed against Sirius's chest, and he, good naturedly, though less than willingly, backed a few steps away from her, then disapparated. "Can we talk?" Fabian pleaded through the door.

Adela took a deep breath, then unlocked the door and opened it. Fabian stood there with sad eyes. "Come on in," Adela said softly.

Fabian entered the room and closed the door behind him. Adela walked over to the dresser, digging through one of the drawers for a pair of pajamas. "I'm sorry, Adela," Fabian said despondently. "I should've been more sensitive to your feelings, but Black makes me crazy. The way he flirts with you, and right in front of me! He makes me furious."

Adela shook her head, pulling an oversized black t-shirt and a pair of pink plaid pajama pants out of the drawer. She said as she stripped off her robes, "Sirius would never do anything to try to steal me away from you, Fabian. All he cares about is being sure you make me happy."

Fabian mildly took hold of her arm, turning her around to face him before she could finish dressing for bed. She stood in front of him in her pajama pants and a lacy red bra. "Do I make you happy?" Fabian asked quietly.

Adela thought for a moment, then nodded. "I think so," Adela mumbled.

A look of hurt flashed in Fabian's eyes. "But you're not sure?"

Adela tore her gaze away from Fabian's face, looking anywhere in the room but at Fabian. Tears built up in her eyes, and she tried to blink them away. "Fabian, I don't really know what it's like to be happy," she gushed. "I didn't have any experience with happiness before I joined the Order; I'm still trying to figure out how it feels to be happy. Please, try to understand."

Fabian moaned softly. "Oh, darling." Fabian pulled Adela to him in a tight embrace, stroking her hair and kissing the top of her head. Adela felt safe in his arms, but her physical reaction to Fabian was nothing in comparison to her body's response to Sirius's touch not long before. "Of course I understand," Fabian continued. "I'm sorry that that's the kind of place you grew up in. I wish there was something I could do to help."

Adela pulled out of Fabian's arms and shrugged. She threw the shirt on over the red bra she was wearing. "I just want to get some sleep," Adela said quietly.

Fabian nodded, looking dejected. "Sure, dear. Whatever you want." Adela crawled sluggishly onto the bed, all of the energy drained from her body, and collapsed on top of the covers. Fabian lovingly tugged the blankets out from under her and pulled them over Adela. She offered him a small smile. Fabian changed into his own pajama pants quickly, then crawled into the bed beside Adela. He kissed her cheek. "Good night."

* * *

 **January 1979**

Adela stood on the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, facing down Sirius Black, who stood at the other end of the table. The students were still on Christmas holiday, so Dumbledore had allowed the Order to practice dueling in the Great Hall. Currently, Sirius and Adela were facing off and had been for quite some time, as their skills were fairly evenly matched. A fairly large amount of Order members had gathered in the Hall to observe the duel: James, Lily, Alastor Moody, Fabian and Gideon Prewett, Remus, Peter Pettigrew, Marlene McKinnon, Caradoc Dearborn, Benjy Fenwick, Dorcas Meadowes, and Frank and Alice Longbottom looked on with interest. Adela smirked at Sirius, both breathing heavily. "You're never going to beat me, Sirius," Adela announced proudly.

Sirius threw a Stinging Hex at Adela, who blocked it with ease. He grinned mischievously back at her. "It's so cute how you think you stand a chance," he teased.

Multi-colored jinxes flew back and forth between them, all either blocked or dodged. Adela scowled as she fought, beginning to become frustrated with how long the duel was lasting. "I think you've finally met your match, LeStrange," Benjy called out, drawing laughs from several other members of the audience.

Adela smiled as an idea formed in her head. "Hey, Sirius," she shouted. "I have an idea." Sirius raised an eyebrow at her, pausing his onslaught of spells. "Dumbledore's big thing with this dueling practice stuff is preparing us to fight against the Death Eaters, right? Well, what good will this do if neither of us fights like a Death Eater?"

Sirius grinned from ear to ear. "That's a brilliant idea, Adela. I have more practice fighting against the Death Eaters than you do, so I think it's only fair that I get to play the Death Eater. It's about time you had to really try to fight like an Order member." Adela laughed and nodded. Curses began again to fly across the Great Hall, this time the Imperius Curse floating in the mix.

Fabian shook his head and took a few steps toward the table. "I don't like this, Adela," Fabian warned. "Someone could get hurt."

Sirius said jovially, "Relax, Prewett. There's a reason I'm only using the Imperius Curse. The curse will just make her fall on her butt and pretend to be dead for a moment, then I'll release her. No big deal."

Adela laughed. "Relax, Fabian. I've got this under control." Adela sent several Stunning Spells at Sirius, all of them blocked by his Shield Charm.

Fabian started again. "Adela, I really don't think you should be —"

Adela turned her eyes to look at Fabian for a split second. "Fabian, I'm telling you —"

"Legilimens!" Sirius shouted. The spell hit Adela hard, making her cry out and fall to her hands and knees.

 _Adela was barely seventeen. It was the summer before her final year at Hogwarts. Adela wore black dress robes and was cowering on the floor of her bedroom between her two brothers. Rodolphus placed her under the Cruciatus Curse again. Adela screamed, the burning pain taking over her body. "You have to want to cause pain, Adela," Rodolphus instructed. "Those Muggles are filth, like the one you just failed to curse. It's pathetic. You have such talent, and yet you still have not found the willpower to use the Unforgiveable Curses. Don't worry though, dear sister; you'll learn."_

Suddenly, Sirius yelled out in pain, clutching his head and dropping his wand, sinking to his knees. Adela glared up at him, having just used Occlumency to force his spell back into his own mind, fury in her hazel eyes. Fabian was kneeling beside her on the Gryffindor table, his arm draped over her shoulders. She shoved him off, slowly standing up. Sirius panted from where he was on his knees, no longer in pain, but looking nervous. "How dare you?" Adela screamed at him. "You had no right to do that, Black!"

Sirius shook his head. Moody asked him gruffly, "Are you all right, son?"

Sirius stood up slowly. "Yeah, I'm all right. It's not the first time I've been under Legilimency, just the first time I've cast the spell myself."

Adela jumped off the table. Fabian put a gentle hand on her shoulder, but Adela pushed him away. "Get off me," she demanded angrily. Adela stormed off toward the Entrance Hall, but Moody used a Freezing Charm that struck her in the back to stop her.

Moody walked over to her and grabbed her arm before unfreezing her. "It looks like you two are both pretty skilled Occlumens, Missy."

Adela tried to pull her arm out of his grip, but to no avail. "Yeah," Adela snapped. "I'm also pretty damn good at Legilimency too. What's it to you?"

Moody growled, "Voldemort is an incredibly skilled Legilimens. I have no doubts that if he ever captured any of the Order, he wouldn't hesitate to invade their minds and drain every bit of information about us from them before killing them. We need someone like the two of you to teach us how to block out a Legilimens."

Adela shook her head as Moody finally released her arm. "No," she said firmly. "I've done my share of Legilimency, and I don't want to ever do it again. You've never been inside someone else's mind before, Moody. You don't know what it's like. I won't do it, so forget about it. Sirius could teach Occlumency, but his Legilimency, as we clearly just saw, is absolute trash. So I'm sorry, but I guess you're out of luck."

Adela dashed out of the Great Hall and soon found herself outside of the castle, heading down to Hogsmeade. It took her a few minutes to realize that she was being followed, but when she did, she spun around to face whoever it was, her wand raised. She found herself face to face with Sirius, the absolute last person she wanted to see right then. She screamed in frustration and threw a Cruciatus Curse at him, which he blocked with some difficulty. Adela walked up to him and gave Sirius a hard shove, making him stumble back a couple steps. "How dare you?" she demanded of him again. "I understand using the Imperius Curse for a few moments to make a more realistic dueling experience, but how could you do that to me? Not even Bellatrix fights that dirty! How dare you?"

Sirius grabbed Adela by the shoulders and shook her, forcing her to snap out of her irate rant. "I'm sorry," Sirius shouted. Adela stood there in shock for a few moments, expressionless, so Sirius continued. "I am so incredibly sorry. I started thinking about my mother and the things she used to do to me growing up, trying to remember spells other than the Unforgiveable Curses that weren't illegal but were still the kind of hell a Death Eater would throw at you. I didn't think about it; I just cast the spell. I didn't even know if it would work. I'm sorry."

Adela seemed to crumble after he finished, her anger giving way to the pain of the memory that his spell had pulled to the front of her mind. Sirius pulled her into a tight embrace, stroking her hair and gently shushing her as she sobbed on his jumper. Adela's body shook with the cold of the January air; she had forgotten to pick up her coat before running out of the castle. Adela stammered, "That day you saw… I failed to properly cast the Cruciatus Curse… My brothers… they were so awful."

Sirius picked her up in his arms and carried her down to where the road to Hogsmeade ran off Hogwarts grounds, then disapparated back to his flat. He brought her inside and set her down in front of the fireplace. Using his wand, he started a fire and seated himself beside Adela, then pulled the girl against his chest. She continued to cry as he comforted her as best he knew how. As her tears slowed and finally stopped, Sirius kissed the top of her head. "I'm sorry, Adela," he murmured. "I never meant to cause you all of this pain."

Adela shook her head. "You didn't cause it. Rodolphus and Rabastan did. They tortured me to mold me into the woman they wanted me to be, and I never realized how much they hurt me until now."

Sirius buried his face in hair and breathed in deeply, calming himself. "One of these days, I'm going to make those bloody brothers of yours pay for the horrible things they've done to you."

Adela smiled halfheartedly. "Thanks," she sighed, snuggling closer to Sirius. "I'm really sorry for that curse I threw at you earlier," she said sadly.

Sirius shrugged. "Forget about it. You were pissed, and rightfully so. I can't blame you."

Adela sat there silently a few moments, then stated simply, "Fabian's going to be pissed when he finds out I'm here with you."

Sirius barked out a laugh. "Prewett can deal with it."

Adela shook her head. "I mean it, Sirius. He doesn't like it when we're together alone like this. I don't think he trusts me."

Sirius disagreed, "It's not you he distrusts; it's me. And he's right to distrust me, you know." A mischievous twinkle sparked in his eyes. "I really ought not to be left alone with you. Who knows the ways I might try to take advantage of you." Sirius winked at her.

Adela laughed softly. Her eyes met Sirius's gray ones, and her insides quivered at the sight. "Sirius, um, I…" She trailed off, never having even been sure what she had been planning to say in the first place. Sirius swiftly leaned down and planted a heated kiss on her soft lips. Adela absolutely melted in his arms. The fireplace behind them suddenly lit up in green flames, making them jump apart quickly.

Fabian stumbled out of the fireplace, tripping over Sirius and falling on the floor. Turning around, Fabian exclaimed, "There you are, Adela. I've been worried sick about you. I couldn't find you anywhere. What are you doing here?" Adela shrugged. Fabian glowered at Sirius. "I guess now that you've found a new way to worm inside her head, manipulating her into breaking up with me is going to be a lot easier now, huh?"

Anger flashed in Adela's eyes. "Fabian, stop it. You're being stupid. Sirius isn't manipulating me into anything."

"Really" Fabian retorted. "Because it sure seems like every time you get around him, you don't care one bit what happens to me anymore."

Adela fumed, "That's not true, and you know it." Tears began to build in her eyes again.

Fabian shook his head. "That's what you say now, but if you really had to choose between saving my life and Black's, who would you rescue?"

Tears began to run down Adela's face. "Fabian, that's not fair," she protested.

Sirius squeezed Adela's shoulders. "Prewett, I think you need to leave."

Fabian shouted, "I think you need to stay away from her, Black. She's my girlfriend. I won't have you taking her away from me."

Adela screamed at her boyfriend, "You just stop it right now. I won't be your girlfriend much longer if you don't stop acting like this." Fabian dropped to sit down on the floor properly, his temper suddenly deflated. "Please, try to understand. Sirius and I grew up in the same kind of environment; we have a lot in common. I care about you so much, Fabian. Don't try to take one of the only friends I have left away from me."

Fabian hung his head in shame. With a sigh, he stood up. "Ok. I'll see you at home." Adela nodded her agreement, and Fabian walked out the front door and disapparated.


	8. Chapter 8

I would just like to make a special reply to my reviewers before beginning my next chapter. To my main guest reviewer who always encourages my writing, I would like to say thank you for all of you kind comments and your wonderful defense of gingers everywhere.

To the other guest reviewer who has taken it upon themselves to criticize my plot line, I appreciate that you dislike Fabian and Adela as a couple and want Adela to date Sirius instead. SO DO I. As I said in my author's note a few chapters back, Sirius and Adela will date, but Fabian and Adela are dating first because in the real world, it is exceptionally rare that someone manages to fall in love with the right person for them the first time. As it happens, this chapter does change the direction of Adela's romantic life, but not because of your reviews, but because I already happened to be halfway finished writing this chapter before I even saw your reviews. I will not change my plot line because someone decides to be rude and threatens to stop reading my story. One reader is not so special that I am going to change my plot line. Also, as it happens, my best friend in the whole world, the girl who is the closest thing to a sister I have ever had and the only family I have that has not deeply hurt me in some way (at least until my boyfriend marries me), happens to be a ginger, and I take deep offense to the comment "Nobody wants a ginger" and that I am ruining my story by making it more realistic. If you like my story, then by all means, please read on. If you don't like it, then don't read it.

I write this story to make myself happy, not my readers. However, it gives me great joy when my readers enjoy my story as much as I enjoy writing it. I love hearing from my readers in the reviews and deeply value your opinions. I will not bend my plot line to someone else's rude demands though. So please, read my story, nothing would give me more pleasure. I will happily accept any constructive criticism my readers care to offer, and please, feel free to offer any suggestions as to what could happen next in the plot! I gratefully consider others suggestions. Sometimes I need the nudge to figure out the next chapter. However, please keep all reviews polite and resembling nothing like the temper tantrum that was recently thrown on my review board.

Please, enjoy my story, and send me reviews or private messages! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up very soon, maybe even tonight! I'm still figuring out how to bring about my next plot twist into being, so if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know. Lots of love to all my loyal readers. :)

* * *

 **April 1979**

Adela sat in the Three Broomsticks with Fabian, splitting a chocolate trifle with him. Fabian was kissing Adela on the cheek when Regulus Black walked into the tavern. Adela spotted her ex-fiancé and nearly jumped out of her skin. Regulus approached the two of them, rage flashing in his eyes. "Adela LeStrange," Regulus said, venom in his voice. "Don't you think it's about time you stopped gallivanting around with all these blood traitors? Our wedding is only two months away, after all. Don't you think you should be coming home to us now?"

Adela took hold of Fabian's hand and squeezed it, drawing courage from the Gryffindor. "I don't know what lies my brothers have been feeding you, but let me set you straight. I will never be going back to that place, and you and I will never get married. The wedding is off."

Regulus sneered at the man he believed had stolen his fiancé. "And I suppose you think you're going to get away with marrying this Muggle-lover instead?"

Fabian glared at Regulus as Adela said sharply, "Fabian and I haven't talked about marriage yet, but yes, I'd say it's possible."

Regulus shook his head. "You'll be sorry you ever left us, Adela," Regulus threatened. "You will be coming home one day very soon, and when you do, you'll realize your mistakes and beg both me and the Dark Lord for forgiveness." Regulus turned to walk away, then paused and briefly turned back. "Oh, and by the way, happy birthday, Adela." Regulus quickly reached down and stole a kiss from her lips, making Adela's stomach turn.

As Regulus walked away and took a seat at the bar across the room, Fabian turned to Adela, who looked slightly green. "It's your birthday?" Fabian exclaimed, surprised. "Why didn't you tell me? I would've done so much more than this if I'd known."

Adela shook her head. "It's not today; it's tomorrow, April 30. Honestly, I been so preoccupied with everything else going on that I forgot about it. I didn't want anyone making a big deal out of it anyway." She looked at Fabian. "What was that reaction about anyway?"

Fabian furrowed his brow. "What do you mean? I just want to make your birthday special."

Adela patted his hand. "No, not that. I mean when I said to Regulus that we'd possibly get married someday, I felt you tense up like crazy. What's that all about?"

Fabian sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Umm, I guess we haven't talked about this yet so you couldn't have known." He took a deep breath. "I'm not interested in getting married to anyone. Marriage, kids, that's never been something I wanted. That's what Molly and Gideon want, but not me."

Adela nodded slowly. "I see," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. The sick look on her face that Regulus had left was replaced by a look of hurt. Fabian saw the shift in Adela's mood and squeezed her hand. Adela exhaled. "That stuff is really important to me, Fabian. All my life, a family of my own is the one thing I always truly wanted, not that my parents and brothers made me want."

Fabian gently rubbed her back. "I'm sorry, Adela. I get how important this is to you. I just don't feel the same way." He felt Adela start to pull away from him and held on tighter to her hand. "But, Adela, I want you to know that I'm in love with you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I don't want a wedding and kids, but none of that changes how I feel about you."

Adela shook her head. "I know, Fabian." She looked into his eyes, her own sadness reflected there. "I've just got to figure things out." Adela stood up, squeezing his hand. "Give me a little space to think about things, ok?" Fabian nodded, the fear of losing Adela shining clearly in his eyes. Adela leaned down and kissed the top of his head, equally for the benefit of Regulus, as he watched them, as for Fabian. "I'll see you tonight at home, ok?" Fabian nodded and gave her a quick hug before letting Adela walk out the door of the pub.

* * *

Adela sat curled up on Lily's couch with a glass of butterbeer. Lily offered her a blanket, which Adela gratefully accepted and threw over herself as Lily took a seat on the other end of the couch. Adela took a sip of the fizzy drink, then shook her head. "Am I being stupid, Lily?" she asked nervously.

The engagement ring that James had given Lily sparkled on her hand. Lily replied, "Of course you're not. It's not the least bit unreasonable to expect your boyfriend to want the same things you do out of life. If he doesn't want to get married, then find someone who will."

A large black dog came trotting down the hall and jumped up on the couch between the two girls, licking Adela's face. Adela laughed and the pushed the dog away from her face. "Lily, I didn't know you had a dog," Adela said with a giggle. "When did you get him?"

Lily gave the dog a stern look, and the animal settled down, laying his head in Adela's lap. Adela stroked his head as Lily answered, "Oh, he's definitely not mine. I couldn't put up with his antics. I'm just watching him for Remus." The dog seemed to smile at Lily and let out a single bark. Lily shook her head at the animal. Turning her attention back to Adela, Lily said, "Listen, I'm not telling you that you ought to break up with Fabian. If you think you two don't want the same thing and you feel like you'd be happier with someone else who does want to eventually get married and have kids, then you should do what makes you happy, ok? Fabian will understand, even if it doesn't feel like he will right now."

Adela nodded, petting the dog as she sat with a thoughtful look on her face. "I suppose you're right," she said hesitantly.

Lily watched her carefully. "Adela," Lily said. "Fabian isn't like Regulus Black or your brothers. I know you're probably scared that Fabian will turn mean on you if you leave him, but I promise you, Fabian's not like that. He'll let you go; he just wants you to be happy."

Adela nodded. The shaggy black dog was half asleep in her lap now, his eyes drooping. "Ok. I guess I'll go talk to him now then."

* * *

Adela sat at the bar of the Leaky Cauldron, her bags on the seat beside her. She used a straw to stir the firewhiskey sitting in front of her, toying with her drink more than she was actually drinking it. She sensed someone sitting down beside her and glanced over to see Sirius sitting there. Adela nodded at him, then took a large swallow of her drink. Sirius ordered a drink of his own, then said to Adela, "I heard you broke up with Prewett today."

Adela took another swig of her firewhiskey before answering. "Yeah, I did. And tomorrow's my birthday. Don't I have excellent timing?"

Sirius chuckled. "Ah, don't worry about it. I've already got your birthday all planned out. Prewett not being in the picture anymore won't make any difference."

Adela watched Sirius throw back his drink. "What do you have up your sleeve, Sirius?"

Sirius grinned mischievously at her. "You'll find out tomorrow and not a minute sooner." Adela laughed. Sirius motioned to her bags. "Prewett kick you out?"

Adela shook her head. "No, I packed up and left. He wanted me stay and think it over longer. That didn't feel necessary, so I went ahead and left. Figured I could just stay in a room here."

Sirius exclaimed, "Nonsense. You'll come back to the flat with me. Don't waste your money on a room when you could stay with me for free."

Adela nodded. "Ok, I guess you've got a point there."

"I know I've got a point there," Sirius said with a self-assured smile. He called Tom over and paid for both their drinks, then picked up Adela's bags. "Come on; let's go home before we get too drunk to disapparate."

Adela laughed and nodded, watching Sirius disapparate before following closely behind. She reappeared on Sirius and James's front door step just as Sirius was unlocking the door and bringing her bags inside. Adela looked around the familiar empty flat. "Where's James?" she asked.

Sirius dropped her bags in his bedroom. "Over at Lily's place I'd expect," Sirius replied. "Ever since they got engaged last month, he's spend nearly every waking second with her. It's a miracle to get one of them alone these days."

Adela smiled. "I can't blame them for that." Adela walked over and sat down on the well-known blue quilt laid out on the bed. Sirius sat down beside her, a wide, silly grin on his face. She looked up at him, an unidentifiable pain lingering in her eyes. "Sirius, I can't start anything that isn't going anywhere," she said softly. "James and Lily have the kind of relationship I've always dreamed of having. I guess you already know that though, from when we were little kids." Sirius nodded. Adela took a deep breath before continuing. "I just don't want either of us to get hurt."

Sirius tenderly brushed his fingers over her cheek, heating her skin. "I understand completely, Adela," he murmured. He pressed his lips against her forehead. "I'm never going to hurt you."

Adela whispered, "What about marriage and kids? I mean, will this go anywhere?"

Sirius angled her head and kissed her hard on the lips. His tongue explored her mouth, making her body tremble with excitement. The two fell back onto the be as the snogging continued. When he broke the kiss, they both were panting. "It'll go somewhere if I have anything to say about it," Sirius assured her. Adela smiled at him, then the two continued snogging.

* * *

The next morning, Adela opened her eyes only after she smelled bacon frying. She smiled to herself as she heard Sirius entering the room. Sirius sat down on the bed beside her and gently shook her shoulders, then placed a kiss on her cheek. "Time to wake up, birthday girl," Sirius said softly in her ear.

Adela swatted the air, missing Sirius's face, but wearing a smile on her lips. Adela mumbled, "No, more sleep."

Sirius laughed softly and pulled her up into a sitting position. "But if you sleep more," Sirius insisted. "Your breakfast will get cold." Adela looked at the plate sitting on the nightstand. The plate was overflowing with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and mushrooms. "You can't pass this up; it was made with love," he teased.

Adela grabbed the plate and the fork and quickly started eating. Sirius summoned another plate of food for himself and settled down to a breakfast in bed with Adela. She swallowed a bite of bacon and said, "My favorite breakfast, and in bed no less? I'm impressed; so far you've already made this my best birthday."

Sirius stole a quick kiss from Adela in between bites of eggs. "I'm glad to hear it," he said, beaming at her.

* * *

Adela and Sirius walked along a street in Muggle London, taking the long way home from Lily's flat. James, Lily, and Sirius had thrown a large party for Adela's birthday at Lily's place, inviting all of the members of the Order. Nearly everyone showed up, the Prewett brothers being the only notable absences. There had been lots of hugging, gift giving, cake, and laughter. Sirius held Adela's hand as they walked towards his flat. Adela couldn't stop smiling. "You're something else, Sirius Black," Adela declared.

Sirius grinned. "That's what they keep telling me. If you ever figure out what that something else is, let me know. Nobody ever seems to know," he quipped, making Adela laugh.

Adela shoved his shoulder gently, and Sirius pretended to stumble a couple steps to the side. Suddenly, Adela felt cold, like the April weather had suddenly disappeared and been replaced by January winter winds. Her heart dropped, and her stomach flipped. All the happiness from a moment before dissipated. Sirius suddenly grabbed Adela by the hand again and pulled out his wand, realization lighting his eyes. "Run," Sirius shouted at her.

Adela pulled out her own wand and took off running, struggling to keep up with Sirius as he pulled her along. A dementor dropped from nowhere in front of them, sucking at Sirius's mind. He yelled and fell to his knees. Adela stopped running, petrified with fear. Sirius yelled, "Adela, run, damn it!" Sirius aimed his wand at the dementor and called out a patronus, but the dementor's hold on his mind was too strong and all that came from his wand was a shield patronus.

Adela turned around as Sirius fought off the dementor and screamed. Three more dementors were closing in on the witch and wizard. Adela concentrated as hard as she could on her memories of the day she had just spent with Sirius, then cried, "Expecto Patronum!" Immediately, a small winged creature took shape in the misty white light that exploded out of her wand. The tiny bird flew to each of the dementors and drove them away. Adela, without breaking her concentration, turned the patronus on the dementor attempting to kiss Sirius, sending the dark creature running.

Sirius watched the white bird not more than eight centimeters tall suddenly fly backwards before turning and landing on Sirius's shoulder. "I've seen one of these before," Sirius said with wonder in his voice. "It's a hummingbird."

Adela ran over to him and observed the tiny bird more closely. "I saw these on a trip to the United States with my family once," Adela said softly as the bird hopped onto her finger. "They only exist in the New World."

Sirius smiled at her. "Adela, you just produced a full corporeal patronus for the first time, and while under attack by dementors no less. That's amazing. It couldn't be amore fitting patronus either," Sirius mused.

Adela tilted her head to the side, curious. "How so?"

"This little bird is light and free. It's independent, playful, and quick. It's resilient, like you. You bounce back so fast from every little hurt. It moves so fast from one place to another, and it travels ridiculous distances. I'd say you've come a long way from who you were this time last year," Sirius said with a smile.

Adela grinned as the hummingbird vanished into the air. "I guess you're right," she replied.


	9. Chapter 9

**June 1979**

Adela walked out of Flourish and Blotts carrying a sack of newly purchased spellbooks: one on defensive spells, one on charms, and one on transfiguration. She headed in the direction of Gringotts, where she had made plans to meet Sirius, James, and Lily to go to a fitting for the wedding at Madame Malkin's shop. Adela wasn't actually part of the wedding party, but she was roughly the same size as Alice Longbottom, the maid of honor, who couldn't make it to the fitting, so Lily had insisted on Adela substituting. Adela felt strangely nervous as she walked down Diagon Alley, as though someone was watching her. She glanced over her shoulder for the hundredth time that day and finally spotted the source of her uneasiness. About ten meters behind her, Lucius Malfoy appeared to be following Adela. Adela picked up the pace, now even more frightened than earlier, before breaking into a full out run. As brother-in-laws, Lucius Malfoy and Rodolphus LeStrange were particularly close friends. If Lucius was following Adela, she knew it most likely meant that Rodolphus was nearby as well. Adela knew she had to reach Gringotts before Rodolphus found her if she wanted to escape. She was only a few meters away from safety when she felt a rough grip on her upper arm pull her to a stop. Adela looked up quickly. Standing to her right was Rodolphus, and Adela sensed Lucius standing behind her. Rodolphus smirked at his baby sister. "Well done, Malfoy. You drove this stupid little girl right into my arms."

Adela glanced around quickly, panicking, looking for any familiar faces in the crowd who might help her. She glimpsed Sirius climbing the steps of Gringotts and screamed his name at the top of her lungs. Lucius slapped Adela across the mouth as Sirius turned, his eyes quickly landing on Adela and the two Death Eaters. Sirius shouted her name and pulled out his wand, rushing over to where she stood as fast as he could. By the time Sirius reached the spot where they had been standing, Rodolphus and Lucius had disapparated, taking Adela with them.

* * *

Adela soon found herself locked in one of the guest bedrooms of 12 Grimmauld Place without a wand, pacing the room anxiously. She had managed to hit Lucius with an especially nasty Stinging Hex before they had taken her wand, but it hadn't done her any good. The room was monochromatic in shades of gray and black, with the exception of the hardwood floors, the color scheme creating the perfect environment for her anxiousness to grow.

After spending several hours alone in this manner, Adela's solitude was disrupted by her two brothers and her ex-fiancé. Rabastan said roughly, "I'm sure you remember, dear sister, that you are to be married tomorrow."

As Rabastan finished speaking, Rodolphus placed Adela under the Cruciatus Curse. Her blood-curdling shriek echoed throughout the Black family home. When the oldest LeStrange sibling released her from her torment, Adela glared at the three men towering over her. "I'll never marry a Death Eater," Adela declared defiantly.

Regulus hit Adela hard with a blow to the head, knocking her back down to the floor, as Bellatrix LeStrange entered the room. "Aunt Walburga requests we do our best to keep her blood off the more expensive furniture," Bellatrix said, a sickeningly cheerful lilt to her voice.

Adela groaned softly at the pain now throbbing inside her head. Rabastan kneeled beside Adela as she slowly pushed her upper body off the floor. "Adela," Rabastan began. "You are going to be tortured like a worthless Muggle. Then we will fix you up like a proper pureblood again. We will put you under the Imperius Curse. You're rather familiar with how that feels these days, aren't you?" The Death Eaters laughed coldly when saw Adela start trembling with fear. Rabastan continued, "Tomorrow, you will marry Regulus Black. In time, you'll earn the Dark Lord's trust again, and you'll see the error of your ways. Once that happens, you'll be given the honor of the Dark Mark and freed from the Imperius Curse. And then, you'll more than gladly kill every single last blood traitor you now consider your 'friends.' Regulus, how would you like to deal with this traitorous witch of yours?"

Adela made a daring attempt to run for the door, but barely made it a step before Regulus dropped her to her hands and knees with the Cruciatus Curse. Liberating her from the spell, Regulus cried, "Sectumsempra." Adela screamed as the flesh of her left side and back were violently ripped open, her rich purple robes tearing and turning nearly black as her blood stained the fabric. Regulus crouched down beside her and grabbed her roughly, continuing to carve into her skin with his wand. The other three Death Eaters cackled pitilessly as tears streamed down Adela's face. Adela stared into Regulus's cold gray eyes, silently pleading for him to stop. At long last, Regulus stopped slicing into her, opting instead to use the Cruciatus Curse again. After what felt like hours of abuse, Regulus stopped and muttered, "Imperio."

As the curse took over Adela's mind, Adela stopped crying. Regulus healed her still bleeding wounds. Adela sat quietly in the floor motionless as Rabastan said, "Your wedding dress is hanging in the closet. Put it on first thing in the morning. Narcissa Malfoy will be by to help you get ready."

Rodolphus handed the now compliant Adela her wand. "Welcome back to the family, sister dear," Rodolphus said with a wicked smirk.

* * *

Adela barely slept that night, and what little she did sleep was not restful. She spent most the night trying her hardest to break the Imperius Curse on her. While she could tell that once again, Regulus was not as skilled at Unforgiveable Curses as her brothers, the illegal spell still had too much power over her. It wasn't until she finally got up and put on the wedding dress in the closet around 6:00a.m. that Adela finally managed to free her mind. Adela had to admit, the dress was rather beautiful, even if not quite her taste. It was a poofy ball gown covered in jewels and sparkles and beads. When she looked at herself in the dress in the mirror, it had sparked the desire in her mind to be walking down the aisle to meet Sirius Black in that dress rather than Regulus Black. That desire had been the explosive that she had needed to deliver herself from the Imperius Curse. Now that she had hold of her wand again and was thinking clearly, the escape was easy. She simply disapparated to Sirius and James's flat.

Adela landed on the doorstep of the flat and unlocked the door with her wand before rushing inside. She was disappointed and nervous when she found the place completely deserted. Grabbing some floo powder, Adela stepped into the fireplace and used the Floo Network to travel to Dumbledore's office. Stepping into the room, she found half the Order gathered there, including Sirius. Adela ran over to him as fast as she could and jumped on him, planting a passionate kiss on his lips and tangling her fingers in his hair. Sirius kissed her back with equal fervor, and for a moment the rest of the world seemed to melt away. Adela was vaguely aware of the cheering and whistles and catcalls echoing around her, but they barely registered in her mind. All that mattered in that moment was the feeling of Sirius's arms around her and the sensation of his lips on hers. Finally breaking the kiss, Sirius asked all in a rush, a big, goofy grin on his face, "What happened to you yesterday? Where have you been? Are you ok? Did they hurt you? How did you get away?"

James jumped in with, "And what the hell _are_ you wearing?"

Laughter broke out in the room. Adela couldn't stop staring into Sirius's eyes and smiling ecstatically at him. "I'm ok," she answered. "My brothers kidnapped me and took me to Regulus's house. They put me under the Imperius Curse and were going to force me to marry Regulus today, but I broke the curse. While they'd had me under the Imperious Curse, they gave me back my wand. I guess they didn't expect me to break free if I was under the Imperious Curse, so when I did, it was easy, I just had to apparate home while I was still alone."

Sirius squeezed her as tightly as he could, causing the bruises on the sides to ache, but Adela didn't mention it, not wanting to ruin the moment. He brushed a kiss on top of her head and exclaimed proudly, "That's my girl! My free little hummingbird, no one can make you do anything you don't want to do."

Lily pulled Adela gently from Sirius's arms, a smile on the redhead's face. "Why don't we have a party to celebrate the safe return of one of our own?" Lily suggested. Adela looked at Lily, surprised at being referred to so affectionately by the Muggle-born witch. Delight replaced the surprise in a matter of seconds, however, as members of the Order began calling out to each other assigning party duties. Lily squeezed Adela's shoulders and whispered to her, "I'm so glad you're back."

* * *

The party took place at Sirius and James's flat. It was a little cramped in the small space, but no one seemed to mind. Sirius had followed Adela into the bedroom when they had arrived at the flat as she went to change clothes, not willing to leave her alone for a single moment for fear she might be stolen away from him again. Not ready for Sirius to see the physical scars the past twelve hours had left on her, Adela threw on one of Sirius's Muggle shirts before removing the wedding dress and pulling on a pair of her Muggle blue jeans. Sirius furrowed his brow as she did this, knowing it was an odd thing for her to do, but said nothing. The pair returned to the sitting room, which had filled up with all of their closest friends and far too much food and firewhiskey.

Adela was passed around the room, chatting the day away with her friends and proudly displaying her now corporeal hummingbird patronus to her fellow Order members for the first time since she had first managed the spell. As night began to approach, the drinking began, and, one by one, the Order trickled out the door. Before long, the only ones left in the room were Sirius, Adela, James, Lily, Remus, and Peter. They were playing a Muggle drinking game that Lily had suggested called 'Never Have I Ever,' and getting quite smashed doing so. Sirius nudged the brown-haired girl sitting on his lap and whispered in her ear, "Your turn, love."

Adela giggled at the sensation of his breath on her ear. She thought for a moment, then said, "Oh, ok! I've got this. Never have I ever been sorted into Gryffindor."

Uproarious laughter broke out among the group as everyone except Adela took a shot of firewhiskey. Lily pointed her finger and said between laughs, "That was a dirty trick, LeStrange."

Sirius, surprisingly the least drunk of the group, waved his wand and banished the bottles of firewhiskey back to the cabinet and sent everyone's shot glasses to the kitchen sink. "All right, I thin we've all had more than enough to drink," Sirius said decidedly. He stood up, picking up Adela in his arms as he did so. "I think it's time Adela and I went to bed."

James and Remus whistled suggestively at Sirius. Lily rolled her eyes at her fiancé's behavior, then stood and tugged at James's arm. "Come on. You're staying over with me tonight," Lily announced.

James raised his eyebrows in pleasant surprise. "Oh, I am? Oh this should be fun!" It didn't take long for the Peter and Remus to follow James and Lily out the front door.

Sirius made certain the door was locked behind them, then carried Adela into the bedroom and gently deposited her onto the bed. Sirius jumped onto the bed beside her and pulled her to his chest, where she snuggled up happily. Sirius buried his face in her hair and took a deep breath, the scent of her comforting him. "I was so worried about you," he said softly. "It was such a relief when you showed up this morning. We were trying to figure out a way to get you back, but we didn't know where you were or even if you were still alive." He hugged her close. "I'm never leaving you alone again," he asserted.

Adela replied quietly, "Good, because I don't think I could stand to ever be alone again."

Sirius pulled away from her slightly so that he could look her in the eyes. "What really happened while you were gone?" he asked, his voice tight. "I've seen what those brothers of yours have done to you in the past. I doubt they would have only placed you under the Imperius Curse and then left you alone for the rest of the night. Tell me what else happened."

Pain crossed Adela's face for a brief moment, then was hidden away again. The violent shiver that ran down her spine, though, she couldn't hide from Sirius. He kissed her forehead with as much love as he could put in to the simple action, then pulled her closer. Adela wiped away the tears that were beginning to well up in her eyes. "Just a lot of the Cruciatus Curse," she whispered. Babette, the cat, jumped up on the foot of the bed to join her two masters and meowed before settling down. Adela suddenly pulled away and got off the bed. She walked over to the dresser and pulled another of Sirius's shirts out of the drawer, this one having some Muggle band called Judas Priest featured on the front of the shirt. "I think I'm going to take a shower," she mumbled.

Adela paused to scratch the cat's head, making the animal purr. Sirius watched her carefully, concerned. "Sure, go ahead. Are you ok, sweetheart?"

Adela nodded, then quickly turned and exited the room. She stripped and got into the shower as the steam from the hot water filled the room. Tears ran down her face, blending with the shower water as she looked at the scars that Regulus had left on her side for the first time. She stayed in the too-hot shower for a good twenty minutes, letting the water burn her and turn her skin a deep pink. Suddenly, an overwhelming feeling of nausea took over Adela and her entire body began visibly shaking. It almost felt as though she couldn't breathe. Panic flooded Adela's mind as she tried to figure out what was happening to her. Darkness began to fill her vision, and Adela screamed, "Sirius!"

She lowered herself slowly to sit on the bottom of the tub as she heard Sirius running from the bedroom to the bathroom. He threw open the door, then quickly turned off the water. Adela was only half-conscious and mumbled something to him about not being able to see anything. Sirius lifted her out of the tub and laid her out on the floor, then whipped out his wand. "Rennervate," Sirius whispered.

Adela covered her eyes with her hands, blinded by the sudden amount of bright light filling her vision. Adela slowly uncovered her eyes and met Sirius's gaze, a look of terror in his eyes. Adela said apologetically, "I don't know what happened. One minute I just felt so sick and weak and then everything was dark and I couldn't see…"

Sirius cradled her head and smoothed her wet hair. "Shh, shh, it's ok; it's ok," he crooned. "Everything's all right. It probably just got too hot in here and got to your head. You were just fainting. It's ok; you're safe." Sirius abruptly went silent as he spotted the fresh scars running up from Adela's left hip over her ribcage. He tenderly brushed his fingers over the markings. Fury flashed in Sirius's eyes. "What the bloody hell did that come from?" he demanded to know. Noticing the scarring continued onto her back, he gently twisted Adela's body so that he could see the rest of the scarring. He gasped when he finally realized what he was looking at. Some, though not all, of the scars clearly spelled out the words 'blood traitor.' Sirius raged, "Who did that to you? How dare they do this to you? You're their bloody sister! How could they cut you up like that?"

Adela shook her head quickly, his temper making her fearful. She quickly grabbed her towel off the hook on the wall where it hung and covered herself up with it. Adela scooted back towards the tub as Sirius ranted, trying to put distance between herself and the infamous Black temper. "Sirius, it wasn't my brothers," Adela said, stopping his angry threats against the LeStrange men short.

Sirius scowled. "Well, who the bloody hell was it then?"

Adela hesitated, then said in a barely audible voice, "Your brother, Regulus."

Sirius stared at her, dumbstruck. "Regulus… Regulus did that?" he stammered.

Adela nodded. "I'm sorry, Sirius," the words flew from her mouth faster than she could stop them. "I know you were hoping still that even though he was a Death Eater that he didn't have the stomach for this kind of violence, but he does. He's clearly getting a lot better at it, so he's probably taking lessons from Bellatrix the way Rodolphus used to teach me. I'm sorry."

Sirius shook his head, his temper slowly deflating, and pulled the petite girl over to where he could hold her properly. "Don't apologize, you silly little bird," he said soothingly. "It's not your fault; none of this is so fault. I'm sorry I let my temper get the better of me. I'm sorry if my temper frightened you."

Adela curled up in his arms and laid her head on his shoulder. "It's ok," she mumbled sleepily. She yawned.

Sirius helped her stand up and dry off. She threw on his shirt and some underwear, and pulled her hair up in a simple, out-of-the-way topknot. Sirius led her back to the bedroom and tugged her into bed with him. The two started snogging passionately, before Adela was finally too exhausted from lack of sleep and fell into a deep sleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**June 1979**

Adela sat in the Three Broomsticks with Sirius, James, and Lily. It was two days before James and Lily's wedding, and the group of friends was waiting on Remus and Peter to join them for lunch. It was one last gathering of the Marauders before they started marrying off, as Sirius had chosen to word it. James and Sirius were laughing about some past escapade involving the Muggle authorities and their motorbikes when Remus walked in and sat down at their table. "Peter's not coming after all," Remus told them.

James said indignantly, "What? Why on earth not? What could Wormtail possibly be doing instead?"

Remus shrugged. "Don't know. He didn't say. I'm guessing it's his mother again; I'd imagine it's getting close to the end for her now, she's been sick so long."

The waitress came by their table and took their orders, then quickly returned with the food. The fish and chips Adela ordered look delicious, but the second the scent hit her nose, she was overwhelmed by nausea. Sirius noticed Adela looking a bit green, and asked, "Are you all right, sweetheart?"

Adela shook her head, got up, and ran to the bathroom. She collapsed in front of the toilet and vomited multiple times. Lily approached cautiously behind Adela. "Are you ok?" Lily asked, concerned. "Are you getting sick?"

Adela sighed. "I don't know. I've been randomly getting sick for a week now, and sometimes I feel absolutely exhausted, but most of the time I feel fine."

Lily helped Adela stand up. "That's strange," Lily mused. "Maybe you should get a Healer to check you out." Lily nudged Adela's shoulder playfully. "After all, we can't have you sick at my wedding."

Adela laughed as the two girls walked out of the bathroom and back over to the table where the boys sat. Sirius looked worried as he watched Adela. He stood up and gave her a hug. "Are you ok?" he asked her again, concern shining in his gray eyes.

Lily answered, "Adela's not feeling too well, so the two of us are going to walk over to St. Mungo's and get her checked out by a Healer."

Sirius started to protest, but Adela stopped him. "Sirius, it's fine. I've probably just got a stomach virus. The Healers will have me fixed up in seconds. You just stay here and enjoy your last hoorah with your boys before the wedding; Lily and I will just catch up with you later, ok?"

Sirius couldn't help but grin as Adela smiled shyly up at him. He kissed her forehead sweetly, then consented, "Ok, you two go. We'll try to have fun without you two beautiful ladies."

Lily linked arms with Adela, and the two of them walked out the door of the Three Broomsticks and apparated to St. Mungo's. Half an hour later, Adela was in a room alone being examined by a Healer. The dark-haired witch performed a single spell on Adela, then smiled when she saw Adela give off a gentle pink glow that quickly dissipated. "Miss LeStrange," the Healer said in a thick Italian accent. "You are not ill."

* * *

Adela joined Lily in the hallway, shock on her face. Lily frowned. "What's wrong?" Lily asked.

Adela shook her head. "Nothing's wrong." Adela paused, barely able to believe what she was about to say. "Lily, I'm pregnant."

Lily looked surprised, then squealed in delight and gave Adela a hug. "Adela, that's fantastic," Lily exclaimed. "Sirius is going to be thrilled."

Adela smiled. Lily's excitement was contagious. "Will he really?" she asked nervously.

Lily laughed. "Are you kidding? Of course he will! When are you going to tell him?"

Adela stuttered, "I… I don't know. I can hardly even process this myself. I'm freaking pregnant!"

Adela quickly grabbed Lily in another excited hug. Lily said cheerily, "Come on. We'll go to Flourish and Blotts and buy every single book on pregnancy and babies that they have." Adela laughed and nodded. The two girls headed quickly over to Diagon Alley.

* * *

Adela and Lily ran up to James, Sirius, and Remus in what was now essentially Sirius's flat. Adela hugged each of the guys as tightly as she could. As she hugged Remus, he whispered to her, "You smell a lot different today, Adela. Everything ok?" Adela stared at him, flustered. Remus blushed a little. "Sorry, it's almost a full moon."

Realization dawned on Adela, and she laughed. "Oh, right. Yes, everything's great," she answered.

Adela hugged Sirius last, as Lily stood over by James, who wrapped his arm around the shoulders of the redhead witch. Sirius kissed Adela's cheek. "Are you all right?" Sirius asked, seeming worried. "You seem better than you did at lunch."

Nodding quickly, Adela said softly, "I'm just fine; there's just something changing inside me apparently." Sirius raised an eyebrow at her, confusion spreading on his face. Adela stood up on her tiptoes and whispered softly in his ear, "It turns out, I'm just pregnant."

Sirius's eyes grew wide at he words. He squeezed her tight and lifted her off her feet, spinning around. "You're pregnant?" he questioned loudly. "Merlin, I can't believe this. You mean there's really a baby growing inside of you?" Adela laughed and nodded her head as James and Remus grinned and offered their congratulations. Sirius shook with laughter, grinning from ear to ear. He squeezed her to him as tightly as he could again. "I can't believe this. This is incredible!" Adela giggled as Sirius let her go and ran into the kitchen. He returned with a bottle of firewhiskey and a jug of blueberry pomegranate juice for Adela, several glasses floating behind him. "We have to celebrate," Sirius declared.

James exclaimed, "Absolutely." Sirius poured each of them a glass of firewhiskey, except for the expectant mother, who poured herself a glass of juice. James raised his glass, "Sirius, Adela, congratulations on your new puppy."

Sirius, Remus, and Lily laughed hard as they took a drink, but Adela just looked confused. Sirius, noticing Adela's facial expression, then laughed. "Prongs, I think we're finally going to have to tell her about it."

James chuckled. "I think I agree."

Sirius set down his glass. "Adela, love, this is why James referred to our baby as a puppy."

Bending over, Sirius transformed into a large, shaggy black dog, making Adela gasp. "Hey, wait a minute," Adela explained. " _You_ were the dog that Lily was watching for Remus?" Sirius barked as the rest of the Gryffindors laughed. Adela stamped her foot, trying to be angry, but unable to wipe the smile off her face. "Oh, you dirty little sneak! You were spying on me at Lily's flat!"

Sirius, once again human, picked back up his drink as he slung an arm around Adela's shoulders. "Sorry, love, I just couldn't resist. James and Peter are Animagi too. James is a stag, and Peter is a rat. Remus, as you know, is a werewolf. So that's why we became Animagi, so that we could help Remus out at the full moon." Adela nodded understandingly. Sirius squeezed her tightly again. "Oh, I just can't believe it. James, wait until your parents hear about this!"

James grinned. "They'll be absolutely overjoyed."

Suddenly, Adela's face fell. She took a quick drink of her juice to try to cover the change of her mood, but Sirius caught it anyway. "Are you all right?" Sirius queried.

Adela nodded. "Sure," she said faintly. Sirius frowned, nudging her to say more. Adela sighed. "I just realized that my family is going to find out I'm pregnant," she said sadly. "They won't be happy about this. They hate you, Sirius. If it feels like they're constantly either trying to kill me or force me to join them again now, when they find out that I'm pregnant they'll triple their efforts."

Sirius felt Adela trembling nervously under his arm. He clutched her to his chest. "It'll be all right, sweetheart," Sirius murmured to her. "If they triple their efforts, then we'll triple our defenses, ok? We'll keep you and the baby safe. Don't you worry about a thing."

* * *

Two days later, Adela and Sirius found themselves dancing at James and Lily's wedding reception. The ceremony had been absolutely beautiful, and Lily looked incredible in her mermaid style dress. Adela's deep pink chiffon dress swished around her knees as Sirius spun her around. As the song ended, Sirius whisked her over to where James's parents stood. "Charlus, Dorea, I wanted to introduce you to the love of my life, Adela LeStrange."

Adela blushed, and Charlus kissed her hand. Dorea smiled at her and said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Adela. We've heard so much about you when Sirius comes over with James for Sunday dinner."

Sirius beamed at his surrogate parents. "Well, you're about to hear some fantastic news. Adela and I are pregnant," he exclaimed happily.

Dorea pulled Adela in for a hug. "That is wonderful," she replied joyfully. "How far along are you?" she asked.

Adela smiled nervously. "Only about a month," she answered.

Charlus stated, "Well, I can promise you, having a child will be the best thing that has ever happened to you. Although," Charlus raised an eyebrow at Sirius. "I do hope that before too long that you two are getting married as well. James managed to get things done in the right order at least," Charlus said with a laugh.

Sirius grinned mischievously. "I haven't asked her yet, but we'll see what happens." Sirius winked at Adela, making her face turn bright red.

* * *

That night after the reception was over, a slightly drunken Sirius stumbled into the flat he shared with Adela, who helped him into the bedroom. They collapsed together onto the bed, laughing. Sirius pulled her over to cuddle, and nuzzled her neck. "I still can't believe we're pregnant," he murmured softly against her skin.

Adela smiled. "I can't believe it either." Adela thought for a moment. "Dumbledore's not going to let me fight for the Order anymore once he finds out."

Sirius chuckled softly. "I'm not going to let you fight for the Order anymore while you're pregnant either, you silly little hummingbird."

Adela sighed and rolled over, facing Sirius. "If I can't fight the Death Eaters anymore, I think maybe I should take Moody up on that idea of his."

Sirius frowned. "What idea?"

Adela replied easily, "The one where he suggested teaching the Order Occlumency. It's not a bad idea, and it would make things safer for the Order too."

Nodding, Sirius replied, "Yeah, that could work. It would certainly be a lot safer for you." Sirius thought for a moment. "Actually, I have another idea that might help protect the Order that we could bring up to Dumbledore." Adela raised an eyebrow, curious. "You have experience casting Unforgiveable Curses." A hurt look appeared in Adela's eyes. "Well, you've experienced first hand how hard it is to break an Imperius Curse. If one of the other Order members gets caught by one, there's no telling what the Death Eaters will make them do. You could ask Dumbledore if he thinks it'd be a good idea for you to help the Order practice escaping the Imperius Curse?"

Adela smiled slightly, the sadness still lingering in her eyes. "That's a really good idea, Sirius," she whispered, then yawned. Sirius gently stroked her hair as Adela drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **Ok, folks, so here's the deal. My personal life has changed directions, and I'm going to be moving this coming weekend. The place I'm moving to might not have internet right away, so I likely will not be able to update this story again at least until after this weekend. However, I will continue to write the story, I just won't be able to post it for a bit. I will post updates as soon as I can, and I will try to continue to respond to reviews as much as I can! Thanks for all the love, and please review and leave any suggestions you want!**

 **UPDATE: So apparently I will have internet in the place I am moving to tomorrow either Monday or Tuesday. Sunday and Monday I plan to spend some time writing, so expect a new chapter early next week! :) Please continue to review because I can use a little bit of phone data to check up on those & try to respond to them, so thanks again for all the love and support! :)**

 **UPDATE 2: Thanks to everyone who has followed or reviewed this story over the past week! :) I currently have internet again, and I am working on writing Chapter 11. So please pass this story along and feel free to leave reviews! :)**


	11. Chapter 11

**July 1979**

The Order of the Phoenix assembled in Professor McGonagall's transfiguration classroom, and every member, particularly the Marauders, seemed every bit as rowdy and rambunctious as they had as fourth years. Even Professor McGonagall chatted merrily with Lily as Adela stood nervously at the front of the classroom. After receiving an encouraging wink from Dumbledore, Adela took a deep breath and cast a Silencing Charm over the entire room. Annoyed faces turned to stare down Adela over the loss of their voices. Adela undid her spell, then said, "Now that I have your attention, I'll get straight to the point. Professor Dumbledore and Alastor Moody have agreed that it would be a good idea for me to teach you all Occlumency and how to resist the Imperius Curse. So, um, I guess we'll start with Occlumency. What you need to do is keep a tight lid on your emotions. Mainly, stay clam and try to relax. At first you're not going to be able to keep me out, so the main thing to focus on is blocking me from going any further in your mind than I already am. So… who wants to go first?"

Nervous glances were shared around the classroom. Adela was just about to give up hope of getting a volunteer when Sirius stood up from his desk, a solemn look on his face. "I've some experience being put under Legilimency, but it's been some time since I've had to practice Occlumency. Out of everyone in this room, you're the only one I'd ever trust to dig around inside my head without using what you find there to your advantage or against me." Sirius rounded the desk and strode to the front of the room, stopping about a foot away from Adela. Staring into his lover's eyes, he continued, "So go ahead. Search my mind."

Adela breathed a soft sigh of relief and smiled slightly at Sirius, then mouthed the phrase 'thank you' to him. He simply offered a sad smile in return. Keeping eye contact, Adela said, "Legilimens."

* * *

 _The room was spacious with a large bed that had a carved headboard. One wall had a tall window with long velvet curtains, and a candle chandelier hung from the ceiling. The walls of the room were covered with so many pictures that it was barely possible to see the wallpaper, and the room was decorated with Gryffindor banners and colors. Adela gasped as she realized at what exactly she was looking. She saw a younger Sirius, maybe fifteen or sixteen years old, crumpled on the floor as Walburga Black tortured him with the Cruciatus Curse. He didn't yell or writhe on the floor in pain, but Adela could plainly see that he was drenched in sweat and biting his lip to keep himself from crying out in agony. The older woman looked frustrated, then removed the curse from her son. She levitated the teenager to his feet and demanded, "I have permitted you to defy your birthrights for far too long, boy. It's enough of a plague on our family that you made the mistake of becoming a Gryffindor, but now you refuse to accept the pureblood girl your father and I have chosen for you to marry? What makes you think you have any such right to flout your own engagement?" Sirius merely stared back at her, a strong, defiant look in his eyes, never even so much as flinching. The woman screeched angrily, "Legilimens!" Sirius dropped to his knees with a low moan. Adela felt sick at the sight. Suddenly, Adela felt a massive pounding in her head._

* * *

Adela felt the force of being shoved backwards, but her body never moved, as Sirius pushed her out of his mind. As reality swam back into view, Adela shook her head. Sirius watched her with a pitying look, cradling her head in his hands and kissing the top of her head. He whispered, "Are you ok, little hummingbird?"

Adela wiped unshed tears from her eyes and nodded. Adela said, loud enough for the rest of the Order to hear, "That was good, Sirius. You pushed me out very quickly. It might have taken longer against a more skilled Legilimens, but not much." Sirius hesitated, then nodded and walked back to his seat between James and Remus. "Umm, who wants to go next?" Remus stood up slowly, a determined look on his face, and walked towards Adela. He offered a simple nod. Adela raised her wand and pointed it at him.

* * *

 _Adela could feel herself floating through Remus's mind, exploring all the memories hidden inside his head. She tried not to stop and stay in one place for too long as she had in Sirius's mind; she didn't want to make it too easy for Remus to repel her spell. Adela caught glimpses of Remus turning at various full moons during his school days, James, Sirius, and Peter transformed into their animagus forms alongside him. Sirius in dog form lay in the floor close to Remus, a soft whine emanating from his throat. Adela floated on through Remus's memories before Adela stopped again. A little boy, whom Adela guessed must be Remus at only three or four years old, was out catching fireflies in the front yard of a house under a full moon. A large, grizzly wolf emerged from the trees close by. Adela stood there and watched, unable to do anything, her hand over her mouth and tears welling up in her eyes as she realized what was happening. She could feel a push against her presence in his mind, but the force of it wasn't strong enough to drive her out of his mind. The wolf slowly approached the young Remus from behind as he chased the insects around his yard. The moment Remus became aware of the advancing werewolf, the creature lunged forward and grabbed Remus by the shoulder with his mouth. A sort of choking sound escaped from Adela's throat as the little boy screamed in pain and fear. His parents rushed out of the house, screaming, and his father threw a curse at the werewolf, forcing it to drop Remus and flee. Adela felt another, stronger push against her manifestation in his memory, and Adela allowed him to compel her out of his head._

* * *

Adela's head throbbed slightly as her mind reentered reality. She felt wetness on her cheeks from tears she hadn't realized she had been shedding. Adela's eyes found Sirius, who looked deeply concerned. Remus pulled Adela in for a tight hug, being careful not to squeeze her too tightly. "I'm so sorry, Remus," Adela mumbled against his chest. Remus simply squeezed her again and gave her a smile before returning to his seat.

Professor McGonagall said, "Dear, if this is becoming too much for you, you don't have to continue. We can find another way."

Adela shook her head. "That isn't necessary. I can do this." Adela took a deep breath. Sirius started to get up, but Adela waved him away. "Hormones are just messing with my head, that's all. I'm fine. Umm, who's next?"

Fabian Prewett got up from his seat beside his brother in the back of the classroom. "I'll do it," he declared. Adela nodded quickly as her ex-boyfriend crossed the room to stand in front of her. She raised her wand and cast the spell.

* * *

 _Flashes of memories passed in front of Adela's eyes. She watched as Fabian and Gideon battled side by side against Death Eaters in the streets of Muggle villages, protecting the innocent with ease as their enemies struggled to stay on their feet. The scene changed to the inside of a house, where Fabian played on the floor with his one-year-old twin nephews and Gideon occupied the older Weasley children in the background, the sight of it making Adela smile. Another memory switch, and Adela was watching Fabian and herself in his bed, naked and sweaty. Adela forced her way deeper into his mind, finding herself watching the Prewett brothers sitting on their sofa in the living room of their home. Fabian looked as though he had been crying. "I never wanted to lose her, Gideon. Why did she have to leave?"_

 _Gideon shook his head. "You wanted two different things, Fabian. It wasn't fair to ask her to give up her dreams just to stay with you."_

 _Fabian stood up, throwing the empty bottle of firewhiskey against the opposite wall, shattering it. "I'd never ask her to do that!" he roared. "She wants to get married and have kids, then fine; that's what she wants. Maybe that was never something I wanted, but I could've changed my mind! I would have changed my mind for her." Fabian sunk back down to his seat on the couch, crumpling under the weight of his obvious sorrow. "Now Black's gotten her pregnant. I'll never get the chance to win her back now; she'll never leave him now."_

 _Gideon flinched at the anger in his brother's voice. "Come on, mate. Try to be happy for her. Black makes her happy; isn't it good enough that she's happy?"_

 _Fabian shook his head, seemingly wrestling with himself. He groaned. "Of course I want her to be happy. I just wish…" He hesitated. "I just wish it had been me. I wish it had been me that had gotten her pregnant, before she left me. I love her, Gideon. I would've married her; I would've been thrilled to have been a father with her. It wasn't ever anything I wanted for my life, but with her, it all just seems so different."_

 _Gideon sighed. "You still love her." Fabian nodded._

* * *

This time, Adela didn't feel any attempts to force her out of the man's memories. There was no pain in her head; just the anger that was filling her heart. As Fabian's face with his sad eyes swam into focus, Adela threw a Cruciatus Curse at him, making Fabian dropped to his hands and knees with a yelp. Sirius and Gideon jumped to their feet almost simultaneously. Sirius called, "Adela!"

The angry witch looked up at her boyfriend, fury blazing in her eyes. The worried look in Sirius's eyes was enough to bring Adela back to her senses. Releasing Fabian from the Unforgiveable Curse, Adela ran as fast as she could out of the room. She darted down the various flights of stairs, finding herself in the entrance hall of the school before anyone caught up with her. She felt a hand grab her by the elbow, and she spun around to face the owner of the hand. Fabian stood there, eyes filled with sorrow. "Adela, please; let me explain."

"How dare you?" Adela screamed at him. "How could you do this to me? You knew that those memories would be in the forefront of your mind. You weren't even _trying_ to push me out of your head, or to even protect any of your memories from me. You knew I'd see all of that! How could you do that? As if things weren't already complicated for me, you just had to pile that on top of everything else, didn't you? What are you trying to do here, Fabian?"

Fabian shook his head and shouted back, "I don't know, Adela! I don't know what I thought would come out of this, but I thought you deserved to know how much I love you." Adela moved her wand arm to cast another spell over him, but Fabian grabbed her wrist and stopped her. He shook her, a bit more roughly than necessary. "You don't have to stay with Black," he announced blatantly. "I love you so much; I don't care that it's Black's baby. I'd love you and that baby more than you could ever even expect from Black. I'd take care of you both and protect you and keep you safe; you'd never have to worry about anything ever again. Your family would never come near you again; no one would ever hurt you or that little baby. You've seen it yourself; I've changed my mind. I never wanted any of that family stuff until you. Please, just let me love you; let me take care of you again."

Adela slapped him hard across his cheek. He rubbed at the tender spot she left on his jaw as Adela spotted Sirius running down the stairs behind Fabian. She leaned in close to Fabian and hissed, "Just stay away from me." Adela turned and ran out of the entrance hall out onto the grounds of Hogwarts. She could hear Sirius yelling after her, but she didn't stop running until she reached the gate of the school. There, she summoned her broomstick, and flew the rest of the way to Hogsmeade. Stepping inside the Three Broomsticks, Adela sat down at the bar. "Butterbeer, please," she muttered.

The bartender brought her the drink, which she sipped at slowly as her stomach churned with anxiety. Suddenly, a voice behind her sent shivers down her spine. "Why, Rabastan, if it isn't our dearest little sister." Adela gripped her glass tighter as her two brothers took seats on either side of her. She cringed ever so slightly as Rodolphus casually tossed his arm around her shoulder. "We hear congratulations are in order," Rodolphus continued. "Are the rumors true, dear sister? Are you pregnant with that blood traitor Black's child?"

Adela nodded slowly as her free hand gripped her wand. "A pureblood Black child, at long last," Rabastan cooed. "Perhaps not the Black we had been hoping, but a pureblood, nonetheless. After all, this child can still be raised to be a proper pureblood, even if its parents are filthy blood traitors." Adela visibly flinched at the reminder of the words carved into her side by her ex-fiancé. "Of course, you can always come home, Adela. Claim the child was fathered by Regulus, that you've realized what a fool you've been. You and the child will be protected, of course. You'd never be marked a Death Eater most likely. You've been a blood traitor far too long for the Dark Lord to ever properly trust you again with such delicate tasks, but you'd still marry Regulus, and he'd willingly enough father more pureblood children with you —"

Adela sighed in frustration and jumped off the barstool, stepping out from under Rodolphus's arm and pointing her wand at her brothers. "All right, I think I've heard enough," she said. "I'm sick of you two and your pureblood crap. I've heard more of it than I can stand. I've tried so hard to continue to love you two, in spite of all of the terrible things you've done to me, but I'm done. I'm done with you two. I know the truth about Mum and Dad; don't keep trying to lie to me about it. I know they were killed by dragons on their trip to Bulgaria last year; since they're not around anymore, I have no reason to put up with you two anymore, understand?" The LeStrange men stared at their sister, shock written all over their faces, their wands out, but hardly ready to attack. Adela continued, "I'm never coming back, and I'm done playing nice about it. You or any of your friends ever try to touch me, my baby, or Sirius Black ever again, and I will not hesitate to use what you two taught me to hunt down and kill each and every one of you, you hear me?" Adela glanced in the mirror behind the bar and noticed a blonde man slowly maneuvering into an ideal position to attack Adela. She yelled across the room, her wand never leaving her brothers, "And don't think I don't see you back there, Lucius Malfoy, you dirty little snake! Incarcerous!" Ropes flew from the tip of Adela's wand as she waved it quickly in Lucius's general direction, tying up Lucius, who fell unceremoniously to the floor.

Sirius burst through the door of the Three Broomsticks, out of breath. Observing the scene before him, fear for Adela's safety shone clearly in his eyes. He threw a Stunning Spell at the corner of the room opposite Lucius, closest to the door, where Bellatrix had lurked unseen. Bellatrix saw his spell coming and fled, disapparating to avoid the spell. Sirius's eyes continued to scan the room as he called out to Adela, "Are you ok?"

Adela smirked at her brothers as she answered. "I'm just fine. Come on, Sirius; let's go home."

Sirius nodded, and Adela lowered her wand, sauntering over to where Sirius stood. As Adela tossed a haughty smirk over her shoulder at her brothers, Sirius wrapped a protective arm around her, steering her away from the tavern and back in the direction of the castle. When Sirius felt they were a safe enough distance away from the LeStrange brothers, Sirius pulled Adela to a stop and wrapped her in a tight embrace. "What the hell happened?"

Adela shook her head, or at least as much as she could with Sirius crushing her to his chest. "I don't want to talk about it," she said softly.

Sirius protested, "But Prewett and then your brothers…"

Adela said, more firmly this time, "I'm not going to talk about it, Sirius. That's all there is to it."

Sirius scowled. "Fine, then you'll just listen. I don't know what you saw inside Prewett's head that pissed you off so much, but whatever it was, it wasn't worth casting any Unforgiveable Curse on him, you got that? Don't you ever do that to any of the Order ever again." Sirius paused, waiting for a response. When Adela only pulled away from him and glared at him, Sirius continued, "As far as whatever that was back in the Three Broomsticks goes, I just want you to know that you can talk to me about it, ok? I'm so relieved that you were able to hold your own back there. You have no idea how terrified I was for you and the baby when I walked in back there. I'm so proud of you for standing up to them like that."

Adela's face softened some. She sighed and allowed Sirius to take hold of her hand. "I'm sorry for putting a Cruciatus Curse on Fabian, but I'm still pissed at him." Sirius raised a curious eyebrow at her. She shook her head. "I still don't want to talk about what I saw in his memories." Sirius started to protest, but then nodded slowly. "I can't do that to Fabian again, though."

Sirius gently brushed a stray piece of brown hair out of Adela's eyes. "You don't have to," he said softly. "No one's going to make you." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "It's been a long day. Go home, little hummingbird; lay down and get some rest. You can start teaching the Order that stuff again tomorrow. I'll go back and tell the others that you're exhausted and things will pick back up tomorrow."

Adela leaned on Sirius, allowing him to support her weight with his body. He hugged her again. "Are you sure that's ok?"

Sirius smiled down at her. "Of course, sweetheart."

Adela nodded slowly, abruptly feeling very tired as the sun began to set behind the trees. She squeezed Sirius's hand, then released him and disapparated back to their flat. Stepping inside the flat, Adela walked over to the couch and collapsed, laying down on the piece of furniture. She picked up the flipper off the coffee table and turned the telly on to something called the Muppet Show. Adela was just starting to doze off when she heard a crack outside the front door that jolted her awake. She sat up, startled, her wand aimed at the door. The door unlocked and swung open, and in stepped Sirius, his wavy black hair dripping wet from the rain that had started outside. Sirius smiled sweetly at his pregnant girlfriend, whose hand rested protectively over her stomach. Adela breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Sirius, visibly relaxing. "Hey," Adela said.

Sirius chuckled as he stepped inside the door, running a hand through his wet hair. "Hey, sweetheart," he said with a smile. "Are you feeling any better?"

Adela scooted over to make room for Sirius on the couch. He sat down beside her as she said, "Not really, just a lot more sleepy than before."

Wrapping one arm around her shoulders and using the other to hold Adela's small hands, Sirius curled up on the couch with his girlfriend. Adela rested her head on his chest, content, and yawned. "Well, you can't go to sleep just yet. You've got to eat something first; we've got to keep you and that little boy in you strong, you know," Sirius said with a wink.

Adela laughed softly. "What makes you think it's a boy?"

Sirius grinned mischievously. "I don't know; I just know that little baby is going to be a boy."

Adela smiled and shook her head. "I'm not so sure about that, but if you say so."

Sirius watched her face as his attempt to cheer her up slowly worked its charm. He forced Adela to sit up as he asked, "What would you like for dinner?"

* * *

An hour later, the couple found themselves sitting at the kitchen table eating shepherd's pie. About halfway through her plate of food, Adela had suddenly stopped eating and began more playing with her food than anything else. Sirius watched her sudden change in demeanor with concern. He gently covered her hand with his. "You ok?"

"Oh, yeah, sure."

Sirius stared at her for a few moments, worried. "Adela," he admonished gently. "Tell me what's going on."

Adela sighed. "It's nothing; just feeling kind of sick. No big deal."

Sirius frowned and squeezed her hand. "Adela, if you're getting sick, you should go see a Healer."

Adela shook her head. "It's not that; it's just morning sickness. Except I'm not just getting sick in the mornings, I'm getting sick all day long. I'll be ok."

Sirius watched her for a moment longer. "Ok," he accepted. "Just let me know if something feels wrong, ok?" Adela nodded.


	12. Chapter 12

**August 1979**

Adela woke to the sensation of a hand on her shoulder gently shaking her. Startled, she reacted by grabbing her wand from under her pillow and pointing it at the person shaking her as she opened her eyes. As her eyes focused, she saw Sirius beaming down at her from where he knelt over her on the bed. She smiled at him and lowered her wand, placing it on the bedside table. Sirius placed his hands on either side of Adela's head, supporting his weight as he hovered over her. He leaned down and placed a hot, passionate kiss on her lips. Adela melted like butter under his touch. Pulling away, Sirius grinned. Adela felt breathless as he stared down at her. He nipped at her ear and whispered, "How is it that I can come home from thirty-six hours of no sleep and a night wrestling a turned werewolf and still want to spend the entire day making love to you instead of sleeping?"

Adela blushed, then moaned softly as he kissed, licked, and nipped his way down her neck. Gently, she pushed Sirius's lips away from her collarbone and held his face in her hands. "I love you," she said, trying not to let her laughter escape her lips. "But all I feel like doing is sleeping and throwing up."

Sirius collapsed on top of her dramatically, burying his face in the crook of her neck, forcing Adela to giggle uncontrollably. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "What was I thinking, expecting that I could have sex with my pregnant girlfriend? That's just absolutely preposterous."

Adela smacked his shoulder playfully before Sirius rolled off her to lay on her right side. "I'm sorry," she said, not sounding the least bit sorry. "But let's face it; you can only blame yourself. You're the one who got me pregnant, after all."

Sirius barked out a short laugh, then pressed a messy kiss to her cheek. "That I did, hummingbird," he said cheekily. "And I am damn proud of that."

Adela smiled at him, snuggling up against his chest as Sirius wrapped his arms around her. "Good."

Sirius looked down at her a moment later, and Adela was half asleep. He chuckled softly as he stroked her hair, further lulling her to sleep. He kissed the top of her head sweetly. "I'm the one who spent all night with a full grown werewolf, and she's the one who's falling asleep at 11 a.m. in seconds. How is that fair?"

* * *

That afternoon, Adela stood on the steps of St. Mungo's, waiting for Sirius to follow her out of the building. Sirius had stopped for a few moments one floor up to talk to his cousin Andromeda after Adela's appointment with a Healer to make sure that everything was going well with their unborn child. Apparently, Andromeda was bringing her daughter Nymphadora to see a Healer after the young girl had slipped on a wet kitchen floor and broken her arm. Based on the pair's familiarity with the St. Mungo's staff, Adela had a feeling that Andromeda and Nymphadora's visits were a frequent occurrence. Knowing that Sirius wouldn't linger long, Adela stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. She soon regretted that decision. Less than a minute after Adela had exited the building, Regulus Black ran up the steps of the building to stand in front of Adela, his wand trained on her. Adela sighed. "Regulus, put that thing away. You're making a scene."

Regulus's wand trembled as he shook his head. "The Dark Lord has ordered me to kill you. No more games. No more torture. No more Imperius Curses. You've lost all chances at redemption, at coming home. I tried to save you; Rabastan tried too, but the Dark Lord is tired of your blood traitor antics. You have to die."

Adela covered her stomach with one hand, instinctively protecting her baby, and raised the other hand, wand at the ready. "Regulus, please, don't. At least wait until the baby is born. You don't want to kill your little niece or nephew, do you?"

Regulus's eyes grew wide, as though realizing for the first time that he would be the child's uncle. "I… I can't," he stammered. "The Dark Lord insisted you were to be killed on sight as soon as possible."

Adela looked slightly amused. "He expects you to do it?" Adela shook her head. "You're a lot of things, Regulus Black, but a killer isn't one of them."

Regulus smirked. "My skills have improved since you betrayed us. Have yours?"

Regulus threw a Killing Curse at Adela, which she easily sidestepped. Tossing a silent Stunning Spell at Regulus, Adela said, "You always did somehow manage to underestimate me, Regulus." Regulus blocked the flash of red light with a Shield Charm. Adela sighed again. "Please, don't do this. Think of Sirius. Think of what you'll be putting your brother through. Being forced to fight on opposite sides of a war is tearing him up inside; he hates having to consider you part of the enemy. Don't take away the woman he loves and his child; you'll be killing him."

Regulus aimed another Killing Curse at Adela, which she dodged. "Shut up, Adela," he snarled. "Sirius is a scumsucker, a blood traitor. He doesn't care one bit about me; he hasn't since he became a bloody Gryffindor."

Adela looked at Regulus with pity. "Oh Regulus," she lamented. "You couldn't be more wrong about that. He loves you so much; you're his only brother. You're the only member of his family who has never tried to hurt him. If you do this, he'll never forgive you. He might even kill you." Motioning at her stomach, Adela continued, "This is Sirius's baby. His little boy or little baby girl. Don't kill his only child. Regulus, please."

Adela saw Regulus lower his wand a few centimeters. Sirius burst through the front door of the hospital, the smile on his face vanishing when he spotted the stand-off. "Regulus, what the bloody hell do you think you're doing?" Sirius demanded as he quickly raised his wand and trained it on his younger brother. "Leave, Regulus. Leave now, or I swear, I will arrest you and throw your ass in Azkaban and never look back."

Regulus glanced back and forth between Sirius and Adela, unsure of what to do. "Regulus," Adela warned, drawing the younger Black's attention back to her. "Listen to your brother. I've changed a lot since I left, but I haven't changed that much. I told my brothers that if Sirius or I were ever threatened again, I would kill whoever came after me. I suppose they didn't take me seriously, but you know me. You've seen me kill someone before. I'll do it again. You try to kill Sirius, and I will kill you faster than you can blink. Try to kill me and the baby, and Sirius will throw you to the dementors without a second thought. Your choice."

Regulus weighed his options for another moment, then turned on his heel and disapparated. Sirius ran to Adela and wrapped her in his arms, hugging her tightly. Adela let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. "Are you ok?" he whispered in her ear, his voice filled with worry and his hands shaking from adrenaline.

Adela nodded. "I'm ok," she replied. "I just want to go home."

Sirius tightened his hold on his girlfriend and disapparated back to their flat. Unlocking the door, Sirius picked Adela up and carried her to their bed. Adela felt like protesting being carried like a silly child, but decided against it, not wanting to poke Sirius's already riled temper. Gently depositing Adela on the bed, Sirius asked, "What did he do to you? Did he hurt you? What about the baby, is the baby ok? I should've made you go back inside the hospital instead of bringing you home; we should've had Healer Alessi take another look at you to make sure everything was still all right." Adela shook her head slowly, not looking him in the eyes, as the cat Babette hopped up on the bed and climbed on top of Adela's chest. The cat bumped her head against Adela's chin as Sirius stood looking down on her. He sighed, frustrated, then snapped, "What the bloody hell did my damn brother do to you, Adela?"

Adela said adamantly, "Nothing. Regulus did nothing to me. He made threats, nothing more."

Sirius yelled, "I've seen the scars from what he's done to you before, Adela! I can't count the number of nightmares I've had about him attacking you or killing you since I saw the way he carved you up like a Christmas goose! I can't even imagine how many Cruciatus Curses he's put you under. Don't you _dare_ try to tell me that he didn't do one single thing to you before I got there."

Adela flinched at the sudden rise in volume of Sirius's voice. She pushed Babette off her chest as she sat up, who meowed loudly in protest. "Sirius, I'm telling you; he didn't torture me or try to put me under the Imperius Curse or anything like that."

Sirius insisted, "He did something to you, Adela; I can see it in the way you've been trembling ever since I found you." Sirius slammed his hand on the beside table angrily, making her jump. "Tell me what he did to you."

Adela screamed back at Sirius. "Fine! He tried to kill me, Sirius! Three times, he threw Killing Curses at me. None of them even came close to me. He said that the Dark Lord is through messing around when it comes to me and doesn't want me back anymore. The Dark Lord has ordered me to be executed on sight, regardless of the fact that I'm pregnant with a pureblood child, not that I expected that to protect me. I thought maybe the Dark Lord would be more interested in kidnapping our baby and raising it to be a Death Eater, but I suppose he's too angry with me to care about that. So yeah, no more torture, no more mind games. I'm a dead woman walking."

Sirius's shoulders slumped as Adela finished talking. "Regulus said you were marked for death?" Adela simply nodded, fear shining clearly in her eyes. "Adela, I…" he trailed off, seeming suddenly unsure of what to say to the woman he loved. Tears started to spill from Adela's eyes, and Sirius finally sat down on the bed beside her, once again displacing Babette, who hissed unhappily but moved out of the way regardless. Hugging her close to him, he whispered fiercely, "Nothing's going to happen to you or our baby. I'll never let anything happen to you. No one will ever get that close to you again. I promise."

Adela buried her face against Sirius's chest as she allowed the sobs to wrack her body. "You can't guarantee that," she mumbled. "You've promised me that for the past year, and they keep finding ways to get to me. They'll find a way; they always find a way."

Sirius smoothed her dark hair and gently shushed her, fighting back the tears welling up in his own eyes. "Not this time," he muttered angrily. "Never again. I'll die before I let them get to you."


	13. Chapter 13

**August 1979**

Adela heard James and Sirius step out of the fireplace in the sitting room and the front door open and shut, as she stood in the bedroom folding the clothes piled on the bed. She smiled as she heard James swear loudly after he once again tripped over Babette, who frequently lazed on the stone hearth of the fireplace, always in the way of anyone who entered the flat by Floo. James called out her name, so Adela dropped Sirius's shirt back onto the bed and walked down the hall to the sitting room. James tackled her in a hug that nearly knocked Adela off her feet, but James's arms held her up. Sirius laughed softly as his best friend squished Adela to his chest. "It's been too long," James said. "How's that little pup in your belly doing?"

Adela struggled to stop her giggling, even after James had let go of her. "Everything's going normally with the baby. I feel like absolute rubbish most days, but they tell me that's normal, so I suppose I shouldn't complain. How's married life been treating you?"

James got a big, goofy grin on his face. "Oh, my Lily flower is incredible. The past two months in France have been like heaven on earth. It's been the best time of my life. Which reminds me, Lily told me to tell you she wants you to visit her at the new house in Godric's Hollow, something about a girls' night in or some such girlish silliness," James said with a wink.

Adela nodded at James as Sirius slipped behind her, wrapping his arms around her in a warm embrace. Sirius said softly as he stooped down to rest his chin on her shoulder, "You can go see her tomorrow. Today, I'm taking you to Hogsmeade. Everything else can wait."

Adela smiled widely over her shoulder at her boyfriend. "Oh really? What's the occasion?"

Sirius shrugged, grinning mischievously. "Oh, nothing in particular. Today just feels like a good day to spend some time with my sweet little hummingbird."

Adela raised a questioning eyebrow at James, who merely shrugged. Adela, shaking her head and smiling, replied, "All right. It sounds really nice to me. I don't know if I believe that you're not up to something, but I've been getting so antsy stuck in this flat the last two weeks, I don't even care. Anything to get out and do something."

James raised an eyebrow at Sirius. Sirius sighed and answered the silent question. "Voldemort has marked Adela for death, officially now. We found out a couple weeks ago when Regulus tried to murder her. I've been making her hide out here under a bunch of protective spells cast by Dumbledore ever since."

"Plus," Adela added. "He quite literally never leaves me alone. I'm lucky if I can take a trip to the loo without him. When he can't be here, he sends a member of the Order of the Phoenix to stay here with me. You may not have noticed, but Marlene slipped out the front door as you two flooed in."

Sirius chuckled. "Can you blame me? My girlfriend and my baby are being threatened. I'm not letting those Death Eaters get anywhere near either of you again. At least if you're leaving the flat with me, I can keep an eye on you, make sure you're safe. And tomorrow you'll be with Lily at her home, you'll Floo straight in there and Floo straight back, so I'll know you're safe."

Adela rolled her eyes, but smiled good-naturedly at the man behind her. "Yes, sir, Auror Black," she teased. Both men laughed at her comment. "I'll be ready to go soon, I just have to finish folding the laundry and putting it away."

Sirius smiled and shook his head. "Nonsense," he declared. "The laundry can wait. Just hurry and get dressed and ready to go." He whispered seductively in her ear, "Make sure to wear something nice." Adela shivered slightly at the feeling of his breath tickling her ear. "James," Sirius said, turning his attention back to his surrogate brother. "We'll see you later."

James swooped in and planted a light kiss on the opposite side of Adela's face from where Sirius was resting his head on her shoulder. "All right then," James said. "You two enjoy your afternoon. I'm going to head home and 'entertain' my sweet Lily." James winked at the pair, making Adela roll her eyes again and Sirius chuckle softly. "I will see two later. Try not to get caught in the rain; I hear it's supposed to storm sometime this afternoon."

Sirius nodded, and Adela noticed an odd look being shared by the two, but chose to ignore it, knowing the pair of men frequently had little silent conversations like that. The couple said goodbye to James as he used the Floo system to leave the flat. Sirius gave Adela an audacious, but gentle, smack on the rear, saying, "All right, go get ready. Fix up your hair or your face or whatever it is that you do that isn't really necessary; I'll grab you some clothes to wear."

Adela laughed softly, shaking her head as she walked down the hall to the bathroom. She put on some black eyeliner and pulled her dark hair up in a bun, her usual waves having curled up more than usual from the humidity. She turned from the mirror as Sirius stepped inside the door, holding a floral sundress and a denim blazer. Adela smiled. "Thanks, Sirius."

He grinned back. "You're welcome, love. I didn't know what shoes you'd want, so I'll leave that to you." He gave her a quick kiss and slipped back out the door. Adela threw the dress over head, smoothing it over her ever so slight baby bump. Once she was dressed, she grabbed a pair of boots from their wardrobe and joined Sirius as he flooed to the Three Broomsticks.

The two had a long lunch at the Three Broomsticks, then visited Honeydukes and wandered through the various aisles before Adela finally chose a combination of chocolate cauldrons, licorice wands, and toffees before Sirius pulled her out into the warm August air and began walking with her in the direction of Hogwarts. "Why on earth are we going up to the castle?" Adela asked with a laugh.

Sirius simply grinned at her. "There's something up there I want to show you."

As the pair reached the steps of the castle, the dark grey clouds began to release single tiny drops of rain, slowly. Sirius led her up to the top of the steps to stand in front of the door to the castle, then suddenly stopped. Adela paused and looked at him, confused. "Sirius, what's going on?"

Sirius took a deep breath, then said, "Just over a year ago, I met a beautiful, confused, frightened girl on these steps. Sure, I'd known a girl before with the same face, but this was someone very different. Confused, yes, but she was strong and brave and daring, but her courage never weakened her ambitious, cunning mind. She was sure to leave all of her options open. By then it was too late to go back though, she was a completely different person." Sirius held Adela's hands tightly in his, hanging between them, and gave her hands a gentle squeeze. "To me, this will always be the place we first met, not my parents' home. We've both changed so much since we were small children running around the halls of that awful house. I distinctly remember saying back then that I would never love you, and that I would never marry you, but everything has changed; some things for the better, and some for the worse. I like to consider this change to be for the better. I love you so incredibly much. I don't know what I would ever do without you, and I don't want to ever find that out. So," he continued, pausing for a breath as he bent down on one knee, releasing Adela's hands, and pulling something out of a pocket in his robe. "Would you, Adela Violet LeStrange, do me the honor of giving me your hand in marriage? Will you marry me?"

Adela stared at Sirius as though he were losing his mind for a moment, then noticed the small black box he held in his hands. He had opened it, and inside was a diamond claddagh ring, with Celtic trinity knots on either side of the hands holding the diamond heart, made of brilliant silver. Adela glanced back up into his eyes, suddenly very nervous. She asked, unusually timid, "Are you sure this is what you want?"

Sirius laughed softly and shook his head. "Adela, when have you ever known me to be unsure about anything? Or to go after something I don't really want? Ever?" She shook her head. "No, of course you haven't. So, yes, of _course_ this is what I want, you silly little hummingbird. So I'll ask again," he said with a chuckle. "Will you marry me?"

A wide smile spread across Adela's face as she grew excited. "Yes, yes, of course, I'll marry you," she said happily. Sirius smiled back at her and leaped up from where he knelt as the rain just off the castle steps began to pour, grabbing Adela in his arms and holding him tightly to him, kissing her cheek as many times as he could.

* * *

That evening, Adela helped Lily clean up at the Potters' new home in Godric's Hollow after the engagement party that Lily and James had thrown for Adela and Sirius. Only a few members of the Order still lingered as the party ended; Remus, Peter, and Marlene had stayed to help clean up. Lily was once again admiring Adela's engagement ring, sitting with the newly engaged woman on the sofa. "I know I've said this fifty times already, but I am just so happy for you two," Lily said excitedly. "Sirius is going to be so good to you and that little baby of yours. Do you know when the wedding will be yet?"

Adela blushed slightly, smiling. "Well, we talked about it earlier, and we were thinking of pulling together a small wedding in the next week or two." Adela hesitated. "Lily, I was just wondering, um, I don't really have a sister or anything, and even if I did I doubt she would want to be involved in all this any more than my brothers do, so I suppose I was just wondering…" Taking a deep breath, Adela continued, "I was just wondering if you would be my maid of honor?"

Lily smiled, grabbing Adela and pulling her in for a hug. "Of course I will," Lily exclaimed.

Adela released the breath she was holding with a short laugh as Lily let go of her. "Oh good, thank you, Lily. That means a lot to me." Noticing the dirty drink glasses on the coffee table, Adela stood up and grabbed the glasses. Lily began to protest, but Adela shook her head. "It's not a big deal, honestly. I'm happy to help. I'll just take these to the kitchen." She paused, smiling. "Sirius is in there anyway, so I can tell him you agreed to be maid of honor if I take these in there." Lily nodded, and Adela carried the glasses into the kitchen. Rounding the corner, Adela stopped suddenly, startled by what she saw. Sirius stood across the room in front of the refrigerator, one hand still on the door handle where he had just closed the refrigerator, the other entwined with Marlene's in midair as the two of them kissed in the kitchen. Adela stumbled as she stopped, her eyes widening. Her grip on the glasses in her hands tightened as she said angrily, "What the hell?"

The blonde jumped hitting her head on Sirius's nose. Sirius pulled away quickly, jerking his hand from Marlene's roughly, glaring at her angrily. Sirius turned his gaze to meet Adela's hurt look, and his glare melted into a sad, but shocked, expression. "Adela," Sirius sighed. "Please, no, don't think that. Please, please, don't think that."

Adela stood in the doorway of the kitchen, still holding the glasses. "What am I supposed to think, Sirius? What other explanation is there?"

Marlene grabbed onto Sirius's hand again, declaring, "We're deeply in love, you know. The only reason he's marrying you is because he knocked you up."

Sirius yanked his hand out of Marlene's grip again. Adela hissed, "You should consider yourself lucky that my hands are too full to hold my wand, Marlene. If they weren't, I doubt you'd still be breathing." Turning the daggers she was glaring from Marlene to Sirius, she asked, "How dare you, Sirius? How could you do this to me? You just proposed to me a few hours ago. How could you?"

Shaking his head, Sirius declared, "Adela, I swear, it's not what you think. Marlene —"

Adela shouted, "No! You know what; I don't care. I don't want to know. Marlene can have you."

She quickly moved over to the sink & placed the glasses in it. Sirius walked up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. "I don't want Marlene; I want you! She jumped me, Adela; I didn't know she was going to kiss me. I'd never do that to you; I'd never hurt you."

Adela whipped out her wand and turned it on him in a second, spinning around from the sink and forcing his hands off her shoulders in the same movement. "Just get away from me," she breathed. "Don't touch me; don't ever touch me again. Stay away from me."

"Adela —"

"Shut up!" Adela screamed. "I don't want to hear it."

Adela pushed past him, running from the kitchen and grabbing her cloak and swinging it around her shoulders. Lily rushed over to her. "Are you ok? What was all that about?"

Sirius ran into the room after Adela. "Sweetheart, please, don't do this. Nothing happened! I didn't kiss her, she kissed me, and only for a moment. You know me! I'd never do this to you, and you know it. Please, Adela…"

Adela shook her head. "Just stay away from me, Black. Don't make me do anything you'll regret. I'm sure you don't want me to murder the father of my baby."

Lily admonished gently, "Adela, I'm sure you don't mean that."

Adela shrugged Lily's hand off her shoulder. "Leave me alone. All of you, just leave me alone."

As Adela opened the front door, Remus and Peter exchanged confused glances. James called from across the room, "Adela, don't be stupid. Remember that Voldemort wants your head on a platter; keep yourself safe. Stay here; Sirius can leave."

Adela stood in the doorway, then shook her head. "I can protect myself," she muttered, before stepping outside and slamming the door behind her. She walked out to the street, out from under the Anti-Apparition Spell. Sirius ran out into the yard after her, grabbing her upper arm, spinning her around and planting a kiss on her mouth. The kiss shook Adela to her core, and her anger nearly melted. Then she remembered where his lips had just been, and her fury returned. Pulling away from him, she slapped him as hard as she could across the cheek. "I mean it. Don't you ever touch me again. I don't think I ever even want to see you again, so just stay the hell away from me, Sirius Black." Before Sirius could argue, Adela turned on her heel and disapparated.


	14. Chapter 14

**August 1979**

Adela reappeared in the space between the Leaky Cauldron and Diagon Alley, unsure of what to do next. The last thing she wanted to do was run into anyone she might know, so she slipped through the Leaky Cauldron as quickly and obscurely as she could, throwing the hood of her deep blue cloak over her head, trying to hide her face. She slipped silently out onto the streets of Muggle London, unnoticed, and breathed a sigh of relief, but still unsure of where she was going. A heavy hand landed on her shoulder, making Adela nearly jump out of her skin as she turned to face the owner of the hand, her wand at the ready. She turned and found herself face to face with none other than Regulus Black. Shaking her head, Adela snapped, "If you were going to kill me, Black, you really should have done it before I knew you were here, because if I see your wand arm so much as twitch I will knock you on your ass faster than you can say 'Niffler.'"

Regulus smirked slightly and shook his head. "I'm not trying to kill you. Not this time, anyway."

Adela narrowed her eyes at the Death Eater. "Then what do you want?"

Regulus shrugged. "Just to catch up, I suppose. Can't a man sit and have a chat with his ex-fiancé?"

Tilting her head to the left slightly, Adela replied, "Not a man like you. You want something, and you picked the wrong night to ask me for any favors."

Regulus suddenly grabbed her left and pulled it up, eyeing the engagement ring on her finger. "I see Sirius proposed to you," he muttered. "When did this happen?"

"This afternoon," Adela responded slowly, unsure of where Regulus was directing the conversation.

Regulus nodded. "Well, I'm sure he'll make a better husband for you than I ever could have," he said softly as his eyes traveled up to meet her gaze. In his grey eyes was a look that she had never seen in Regulus before — uncertainty.

Adela asked, "Regulus, something's wrong, isn't it?" He shrugged. Adela sighed heavily. "All right, fine. You have one chance. We'll go back inside, sit down, and talk about whatever the hell it is that's going on with you. After that, I'm leaving here, and you're going to let me leave here without throwing a single spell in my direction, got it?" Regulus nodded. "Let's go then." Adela allowed Regulus to usher her back inside the Leaky Cauldron. Placing a hand on the small of her back, he guided her forward towards the boarding rooms upstairs. "Where are we going?" she whispered.

"I needed time away from my mother," he whispered into her ear as he continued to gently, but forcefully, push her forward. "I rented out a room for a few days." She nodded as they passed a maid, then reached the room door. Regulus reached around her and unlocked the door, then the two walked inside. The room was completely dark, and Adela tightened her grip on her wand, fully expecting an ambush. Adela was surprised to find the room empty when Regulus turned on the light. He chuckled softly. "Why so tense, LeStrange?"

Adela smiled slightly. His laugh, so rarely heard in the last couple of years, reminded her of better, easier times, when her only fears were that she would fail all of her O.W.L.s. "You almost sound like your old self, Black. You should be careful about that; don't want the other Death Eaters to start thinking you're going soft on them."

Regulus took hold of her elbow and turned Adela around to face him. Adela flinched slightly at his sudden proximity to her as he started to touch her face with his free hand, then seeing her jerk away from him slightly, let his hand fall to his side. "I'm rather feeling more like my old self these days, actually," he replied quietly. He took a deep breath, then continued, "My father died last night. I need you to pass that on to Sirius. He'll never stop to talk to me long enough to let me tell him."

Adela gasped slightly at the news. "I'm sorry, Regulus. I know how close you and your father were." Regulus shrugged. "Of course I'll tell Sirius… Well, as soon as I'm willing to even see him again."

Regulus frowned at her, and Adela immediately regretted sharing that information with him. "What does that mean?" he demanded. "You just got engaged this afternoon. How is it that you two are fighting already?" Adela shook her head, determined to not let anything else slip. Regulus grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, a little too roughly, and insisted, "Tell me what's going on."

Adela broke his grip on her shoulders and took a couple steps backward, further into the room. "Don't grab me like that again, Regulus Black, or I'll make you regret it," the dark haired girl snapped angrily. "I don't have to tell you anything. I'll tell Sirius next time I see him."

Regulus crossed the room and dropped onto the bed behind her, sitting there despondently. Adela turned slowly, watching the Death Eater, who looked as though his mind was fraying quickly. He dragged his hands down his face, then ran one hand through his hair nervously. After a few moments, he broke the silence and asked, "How do you know when something is worth dying for?"

Adela furrowed her brow at his question and tilted her head to the right as she watched him, confused. "What makes you think I would know the answer to that?"

Regulus smiled bitterly, shaking his head. "You've obviously decided that the Order and everything they stand for is worth dying for, and you've acted on that decision."

Adela sighed, sitting down beside the black haired man and clasping her hands in her lap. "I didn't decide the Order was worth dying before. Actually, I don't remember ever actively deciding that something was worth dying for. Just one day I found myself in the position that I either had to change my mind about something or give something up, or be killed for it. In that moment I just knew, I'd rather die than back down. You don't decide. In the moment, faced with the choice between life and death, you just know."

Regulus nodded slowly, resting his chin in his hands. The pair sat in silent for a few minutes, before Regulus broke the silence again. "I know that I've been a real jackass to you the last few years. I'm sorry."

Adela stared at Regulus, taken aback by the unexpected apology. "Ok, for real, what do you want?"

Regulus shook his head. "What is so damn hard to believe about the idea that I might be genuinely sorry for the way I've treated you since we officially became engaged when we were fifth and sixth years?"

Adela watched him cautiously for a moment, then let her body relax again. "All right. I accept your apology. I'll never forgive you, but I accept your apology." The two sat silent for a few more minutes, then Adela finally sighed and said, "I caught Sirius and Marlene McKinnon kissing after my engagement party just before I apparated here. We had a fight about it. Sirius insisted that he didn't have anything to do with it, but I'm so angry about it that I don't know if I believe him or not."

Regulus shook his head. "You should believe him," he said softly. "Sirius can be an absolute git when he wants to be, but that's not like him. I've seen the way he looks at you when you two go out in public together. He loves you; he wouldn't hurt you like that. Believe him; forgive him; hell, go home to him."

Adela thought about his words for a moment, then nodded. "I suppose you're right… But I'm not ready to go home and see him. Not yet." Adela paused as Regulus nodded understandingly. "I know I'm probably going to regret this, but can I just stay here for the night? I'll talk to him in the morning at home."

Regulus looked up at her, his eyebrows raised in surprise. "Yeah, sure. I'll consider this my one and only chance to know what it's like to be married."

The two laughed softly. Adela replied cheekily, "Yep, you'll even get to know what it's like when your wife's pregnant and never wants to have sex anymore."

Regulus chuckled, a rare mischievous glint in his eye reminding Adela of his brother. "I hadn't thought about that. Such a shame! I don't even get to enjoy getting my wife pregnant, but I still have to suffer the consequences? Now that just isn't fair," he said with a wink. Adela blushed slightly, but before she could respond, Regulus was leaning in close to her, his eyes suddenly darkening, a storm brewing behind his eyes. "I've almost forgotten what it's like to kiss you, it's been so long."

Adela gasped as he inched closer to her. "Regulus, don't go there," she whispered. I might be pissed with Sirius, but I'm still engaged to him, and that's not going to change."

Regulus hesitated in his movements. "I don't expect it to change," he whispered back. "I just want to know what it feels like to have a woman love me for one night."

He moved closer again, and Adela placed her hand on his chest and pushed against him. "Regulus, no," she insisted. "You're never going to get anything even close to love from me. Just because you apologized and acted civilized for an hour or two doesn't mean you're getting anything like that from me. I told you; I'm never forgiving you for everything you've done to me. Just forget it."

Regulus stared into her eyes, the fire gone from his eyes and replaced by a deep, overwhelming sadness. He brushed his fingertips lightly over her cheek, then muttered, "Ok. I'm sorry." He dropped his hand from her face. "Kreacher almost died a few days ago," he said out of the blue.

Adela frowned. "I'm so sorry, Regulus. I know how much you love that house elf. Is he all right?"

Regulus nodded. "Yeah. I loaned him to the Dark Lord for something, and he returned injured. I've nursed him back to health; he should live a long, happy life now." Regulus scowled. "Everything's changing with the Death Eaters these days, Adela. The Dark Lord isn't like he used to be. He's getting more powerful by the day, and more dangerous to be around, even as one of his own. Things are so much worse now…" he trailed off.

Adela shook her head, then stood up. "Look, it's late. I'm exhausted. It's been a long day, and the past few hours have been especially difficult. I'll see you another time, Regulus, and by then I'm sure things will be back to normal and we'll be trying to kill each other again."

Regulus shook his head as she crossed the room to the door. "You'll never see me again, Adela."

Adela frowned, turning back, seeing Regulus sitting on the bed, looking depressed, but resigned. "What does that mean?" Regulus shrugged at her and remained silent. "Ok… Goodbye, Regulus." He nodded at her, and she walked out the door.

* * *

Adela apparated onto the front step of her and Sirius's flat, pulling out her key and unlocking the door. As she entered the flat, she found Sirius sitting on the sofa with a half empty bottle of firewhiskey, eyes red and a worried look on his face. The second he laid eyes on her, he leaped up from his seat, running over to her and tackling her in a tight hug. As he squeezed her, he demanded, "Don't you ever run off like that on me again. I didn't have a clue where you were; you could've been attacked, you could've been hurt and dying or dead, and I'd have never known. Please, please don't ever do that to me again. I don't want to lose you."

Adela allowed him to continue hugging her, and even wrapped her own arms around his waist. "Sirius, I'm sorry for running away," she said softly as she buried her face in his shoulder. "I believe you. When you say you would never cheat on me, I believe you. So I'm ready to listen; I want you to tell me what really happened."

Pulling back from her, Sirius guided Adela to sit beside him on the sofa. "I was in the kitchen, putting some of the food away. I don't know if you remember this or not, but seventh year, Marlene and I dated for the second half of the year, but right before we took the N.E.W.T.s, I broke up with her. For the rest of the year, she followed me around and tried everything to win me back. She's been a good friend to you, especially since you and I started dating, and every time I've seen her with the Order she's been friendly, so I thought she was over it. But tonight was different. It was like something had snapped in her. She followed me into the kitchen and was talking all this nonsense about getting back together. Before I knew it, she grabbed my hand and kissed me, and before I could do anything, you were walking in. Sweetheart, you looked so incredibly hurt, it's been tearing me up ever since. I can't stand it when you're hurting like that. I'm so so sorry this happened, little hummingbird."

Adela threw her arms around him and squeezed as hard as she could. "It's ok, Sirius. I believe you. It's not your fault." She laughed softly. "I might still murder Marlene in her sleep, but you're in the clear."

Sirius hugged her back, pulling her into his lap and holding her to his chest as closely as he could. "Thank you," he whispered. They sat like that for a few moments, before Sirius suddenly pulled back just enough to look into Adela's eyes. "Now, I have to ask. Where the hell have you been the last couple hours?"

Adela looked away from her fiancé's eyes. "The Leaky Cauldron," she answered quietly. "I… I ran into Regulus there." Seeing a sudden fury in Sirius's eyes, Adela rushed the rest of the words out. "But he didn't hurt me. I swear, he didn't try to kill me, he didn't even try to hurt me. We talked. He had important news for you, but he knew you'd never listen to him, so he talked to me." Sirius scowled. "Sirius, your father is dead. He died last night."

Sirius frowned, then shrugged. "Good riddance," he muttered under his breath. "The man was an absolute monster." Adela nodded slowly. He kissed her forehead sweetly. "In two weeks, we will be married. I don't want to dwell on the death of a man who was nothing but vile and ignorant. I want to dwell on our happiness. It's past midnight; what do you say we go to bed?" Adela nodded, and Sirius walked with her to bed.

* * *

 **September 1979**

A week passed, leaving Adela and Sirius sitting down to breakfast at their small dining table. A tawny owl tapped on the kitchen window, clutching a Daily Prophet in its claws. Sirius walked over to the window and opened it, gave the bird the money for the paper and an owl treat, and closed the window after it flew off. Adela frowned as her fiancé sat down, propping his feet on the table as he leaned back in his chair, opening the newspaper, and asked bitterly, "Who's gone missing today?"

As Sirius read the front page headlines, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Planting his feet firmly on the ground, he scrambled to sit up. "'R-Regulus Black disappears from family home.' My brother's been missing for three days."

Adela's eyes grew wide as Sirius continued to read the article. "Oh Merlin," Adela groaned as she dropped her face into her hands. "This is what he meant."

Sirius dropped the paper to the table and stared at the Slytherin girl hard. "What do you bloody mean, 'that's what he meant'?"

Adela couldn't meet the man's gaze. "Regulus seemed scattered the night he told me your father had died. He seemed a bit crazed at moments, but then at other moments, he seemed more like the young, charming guy he was at Hogwarts. He seemed… more like you. But there were things he said, things he asked… Like how to know if something was worth dying for, or that he wouldn't be seeing me again. It was odd, but it was all so random it didn't seem connected, but now…"

Sirius watched his fiancé carefully. He reached over and took hold of her hands, lowering them to the table, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "What do you know?" he asked softly.

Adela blinked back tears. "He said that Voldemort was growing more dangerous to be near, even for the Death Eaters. I think Voldemort must've done something that Regulus considered to be going too far, and was working up the nerve to confront him about it when he talked to me. I think he confronted Voldemort and died for his efforts."

Sirius slumped in his chair, letting go of Adela's hands. "You — You think Regulus is dead?"

Adela nodded. "I've been having nightmares about something happening to him. I keep dreaming about being poisoned, and water. It didn't make sense. I was always poisoned, and whatever it was that I'd been given made me so hazy and out of it that nothing made sense. Anyway, it was dreams about dying, and even though it was happening to me, I didn't feel like me, and I kept thinking the whole time that Regulus was dying, and I needed to help him somehow. That was the dreams anyway… Three nights ago, the dreams suddenly stopped…"

Sirius frowned. "Your nightmares have always woken me up in the past. You toss and turn and moan and scream in your sleep whenever you're having a nightmare. Why not this week?"

Shaking her head, Adela replied, "I honestly don't know. I really don't. But I'm glad it didn't; I hate that my nightmares cause you to lose sleep too, especially since I've started having them so often lately… I've only woken up in a cold sweat from these nightmares though, so I didn't want to bother you with them. I let you sleep."

Sirius shook his head. "You should've woken me up if you thought something was going to happen to my brother."

Adela argued, "They were just stupid dreams, Sirius. I couldn't have possibly known that they would turn out to be in the least bit connected to reality."

"Yes, well clearly they are," Sirius shouted as he slammed his hands down on the table at the same time as he stood up, making Adela flinch violently. "There's clearly some sort of connection between your nightmares and reality. Didn't you take Divinations with me and James during our O.W.L. years? I seem to recall a couple of predictions you made coming true back then."

"Sheer coincidence," Adela yelled back, rising from her own seat. "In fact, I know there were a couple of times back then that my friends and I actually forced certain predictions from that class to come true in order to get better marks from that stupid French woman, what was her name? Oh yeah, Professor de Guise. She worked hard at all of that divination nonsense, but the woman was insipid and untalented and completely useless to the Dark Lord, so I only paid enough attention to that class to curry favor with her to get good marks."

"How could you cheat like that just for good marks?" Sirius asked angrily. "That doesn't sound like something the woman I know would do."

"That's because it's _not_ something the woman you know would do!" Adela spat, the words filled with venom. "Or did you forget what you were just saying, what, a week ago? I am a completely different person than I was at thirteen, fourteen, fifteen years old. The girl who did that is not the same as the woman standing here in front of you, but neither one is a seer."

"Yeah, well, these days, I don't believe in sheer bloody coincidence," Sirius snapped.

Adela huffed angrily. "Sirius, I probably just picked up subconsciously on the fact that Regulus was thinking of standing up to Voldemort and knew he would get himself killed doing it. My dreams were probably just trying to tell my conscious mind what my subconscious had put together. The fact that my nightmares stopped right after he went missing is a coincidence. One hell of a coincidence, yeah, but a coincidence nonetheless." Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but Adela waved her wand at him. "Langlock," she said angrily, gluing his tongue to the roof of his mouth. Sirius glared at her, furious. "I'm not going to talk with you about this anymore. I'm going to Diagon Alley with Lily to get more of the stuff together for the wedding on Saturday. I don't want to hear another word about this seer crap anymore, understand?" Sirius continued to drill holes into her with his eyes, but nodded anyway. "Good."

* * *

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